Wales 46 1953

Curator: Let's consider "Wales 46" a gelatin silver print from 1953 by Robert Frank. What’s your initial reaction? Editor: Immediately, the filmstrip format strikes me as an intentional presentation. These rows of captured moments carry the weight of sequential storytelling and almost feel like stills from a documentary. Curator: Absolutely. Frank’s innovative process often involved utilizing the raw quality of the photographic negative itself. This specific organization grants us access to his own editorial decisions. He provides us a rare, tangible piece, evidence of photographic practice that underscores labor. We glimpse the production of images, rather than solely their final polished form. Editor: Precisely, there's a gritty honesty to showing us the filmstrip as opposed to carefully selected single images. Notice, the repeated presence of what look to be coal miners? There's a density in those dark figures – like they’re hewn from the earth itself. Is this perhaps a social statement? Curator: Indeed. This photograph exists among Frank’s earlier work preceding "The Americans." Consider Wales as a locus of industry: coal mining. Think about the socio-economic status of these workers in that era, and the labor necessary for coal production as a consumable, sellable energy. These are men who fueled a nation, shown in their physical environment, almost as extracted, used objects. Editor: That gives added dimension to their stark portrayal. They aren't simply individuals, but rather stand-ins. And the way their faces are partially obscured enhances that reading - they become almost archetypal, shadowed by toil. There's a certain melancholy to that row. Curator: A potent representation of their existence. The contact sheet allows for us to investigate that potential further. Notice also how this format forces a new dynamic. The linear layout speaks to time, sequence, a clear path for the artist who used it to refine and construct his art. Editor: Seeing the entire strip really amplifies the cultural narrative imbedded here. Thank you; I feel I understand this much more completely. Curator: My pleasure, revealing those artistic mechanisms exposes deeper understandings, I believe.