Mary and Andrea in hospital II 1954

This is Robert Frank’s ‘Mary and Andrea in hospital II’, a photographic contact sheet. It’s all about process, the look, and feel of analogue photography; its materiality is right there on the surface. The contrast is so rich! It’s got those dark blacks and luminous whites, but it's the greys that really get me. The texture and tone seem to reveal an emotional depth. Look closely at those strips where Mary and Andrea are in bed. See how the light catches the sheets? It's like a dance of light and shadow, capturing the intimacy and vulnerability of the scene. And the red marks scrawled over a few of the frames make me think about editing, decision-making, and the artist's hand. It reminds me of Cy Twombly and his own painterly way of working with photography. This piece embraces the messy, the imperfect, and the real, showing us that beauty can be found in the everyday, in the in-between moments.