Something was missing in MadameFraankie’s photography practice. At least, the artist thought so. She’d been able to capture stories of the Black community; she found that she preferred shooting in black-and-white and in film. “As soon as you are forced to have 36, 24 shots, or now 12 with the new camera I shoot with, you get real intentional,” she says. “I love a good black-and-white image; it stops the distraction.” But, so often behind the camera, she says, “I didn’t really have a way to bring in my own family or even myself.”
Fraankie looked for inspiration in her mother and maternal grandmother, who use their own creative talents for commercial arts and sewing, respectively. Her mom even used to paint in acrylic; the family house still has a painting by her of Fraankie’s older cousin as a “grumpy baby” on a swing. “It’s like they have this thing, this gift,” Fraankie says of her mom and grandma, “and I have decided to accept the gifts that they have.”
With this mindset, Fraankie integrated their crafts into her photography, adding embroidery and painting watercolor elements onto her pictures. “It’s just my first iteration of the mediums sharing space with each other,” she says, “the intertwining of the mediums and the intertwining of the storylines.”
These are the pieces that make up her exhibition “Intertwine,” on display in the Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University. The images she uses are a mixture of her own candid film photographs of her family and those from her family collection that she’s manipulated — the little moments, from relatives doing hair to family gatherings in the living room with pillows on the floor.
“It just felt great to bring life back to them,” she says of the archived photos. “They’re not on anybody’s wall. They’re just kind of tucked away. So, to give a new purpose to the image, it was great.” Most of these have been transferred onto paper using a cyanotype process and toned with black tea. “I think having practices like this really lets you sit with the work,” Fraankie says. “It’s slow work.”
Having spent so much time with the pieces herself, the photographer hopes viewers will do the same. “I hope they physically feel themselves slow down. I’m not asking you to do anything except notice these little moments in between. I’m aware how mundane this is, but it’s like, no, like your family is worthy of existing on a wall. You have a story to tell whether you think it’s slow or not.”
As for the photographer’s family, they’re delighted to be included in the gallery show, most of them traveling from out of town to see the exhibit. “They’re excited about the journey,” Fraankie says.
