Caerau, Wales 1953

Robert Frank made this photograph, Caerau, Wales, using gelatin silver. It's all about layers. Frank wasn't trying to prettify the world. I think he wanted to make something very real. Look at the way he plays with the monochrome. The textures are almost tactile, aren’t they? You can almost feel the gritty, damp earth under your feet. His greyscale is amazing. It feels like he’s playing with a full orchestra. Each tone, each shade, adds another layer to the story. It’s almost as if the textures of the land are echoed in the children’s clothing. See how the fabric seems to mimic the rough terrain? And then there’s that little girl, face alight, bursting into the frame. Thinking about other photographers like August Sander who were cataloguing people, Frank seems to let the poetry of everyday life come to the fore. Art isn’t about answers; it’s about conversations, dialogues that span time.