Blind/Love/Faith, Mabou 1981

Editor: Here we have Robert Frank's "Blind/Love/Faith, Mabou," from 1981, a mixed-media piece incorporating photography and photomontage. It feels almost like a deconstructed billboard – fragmented and raw. What stands out to you in this work? Curator: The visible seams, the tape, the layering of images – all highlight the means of production. Frank isn’t trying to hide the construction; he's laying bare the process of creating meaning itself. How do you think the deliberate visibility of labor, his labour of construction impacts your understanding of the image and its subject matter? Editor: It makes it feel less precious, somehow. More like a direct, unedited expression of the artist's thoughts. The imperfections and deliberate rawness challenge the traditional ideal of photography as capturing a flawless moment. Is it commenting on the illusion of perfection? Curator: Precisely. And consider the material implications. Photography itself, even in 1981, had become a relatively accessible medium. This collage, this intervention, transforms the mass-produced photographic print into something unique, a handcrafted object laden with Frank's own labor. What’s the cultural context here, considering consumerism? Editor: Well, I suppose he is responding to an image-saturated culture by subverting the photographic medium itself. The themes—Blind, Love, Faith—written directly on the photographs suggest these concepts are themselves fragmented or challenged. Almost consumed or corrupted by the act of photographic image-making, itself. Curator: Exactly! The work's power resides not just in the image but in its material reality as a made object, commenting on consumerism by its unique making. I find myself thinking about who gets to assign value and how Frank is doing that here. Editor: That’s fascinating. I initially just saw a somewhat fragmented picture, but seeing it through the lens of material and production reveals layers of meaning I hadn't considered. Curator: Indeed, it prompts us to consider how artistic choices actively challenge cultural assumptions.