Wales 19 1953

Robert Frank’s ‘Wales 19’ is a photographic work that presents us with a contact sheet, annotated with red markings, giving us a glimpse into his artistic process. The surface is matte, raw, and immediate. The photographic images are direct and unadorned, with a focus on capturing candid moments. The red markings on the contact sheet are quite gestural, reminiscent of a painter's marks on canvas, circling certain frames, connecting others with bold lines as if the artist were thinking aloud about the structure of the work, indicating the flow of images. Look at the bottom row of images, a series of single figures, caught unawares. This makes me think about how we see or do not see each other. We notice the texture of the concrete, but what about the people who live there? This reminds me of Walker Evans’ use of the contact sheet to guide the viewers eye and suggest the potentiality inherent in photography. Both Evans and Frank invite us to consider the myriad possibilities inherent in the photographic medium.