Mary and Andrea in hospital IV 1954

This is Robert Frank’s filmstrip, "Mary and Andrea in hospital IV", made with black and white film. It’s like a sketchbook page, where each frame offers a slightly different take on the same scene. Frank doesn’t hide the process. The perforations along the edges and the frame numbers are all visible, which to me feels like he's saying, ‘Hey, this is how it’s done.’ You see the softness of the grayscale, the stark contrast between light and shadow. The texture of the film itself adds a layer of graininess, almost like a painting that embraces its own materiality. In the middle frames, the light flares out, like a spotlight, and I’m reminded of the starkness of old movies and even the theatrical drama of Caravaggio. Frank, like Diane Arbus, had a way of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. Think of Nan Goldin too, who also brought an unflinching eye to personal experiences. Ultimately, it's about bearing witness and seeing the world through a lens that is both intimate and unflinchingly honest.