Bars no number 1955

This is “Bars no number” by Robert Frank, a black and white contact sheet where the process of making photographs is laid bare. There’s something beautiful about seeing the raw material, the artist’s selections and rejections, all on one surface. It’s like looking at a painter’s palette, with all the different colors mixed together. Except here, the colors are tones of gray, and the marks are glimpses into different moments, different scenes. Look at the frame highlighted in red. It’s a close-up of a crowd, maybe a gathering or a protest. The faces are blurred, indistinct, but there’s a sense of energy and movement. The contrast is stark, the blacks deep and the whites bright, creating a sense of immediacy and urgency. It’s almost like a drawing; like a Cy Twombly where it feels like someone’s wiped the images across the surface! Frank's work reminds me of Helen Levitt, another street photographer who captured the everyday with such honesty and vulnerability. It's all part of the conversation that is art, an exchange of ideas and perspectives that stretches across time and space. It's up to us to keep asking questions.