AME church--Houston, Texas 1955

Robert Frank took this photograph of the AME church in Houston, Texas, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. The image is a study in contrasts; light and shadow play across the weathered wooden facades of the church and adjacent building. I like the sense of quiet, how the architecture looms up, monumental. I’m struck by Frank’s decision to frame the church alongside the neighboring structure. I wonder what it was like for him, standing there, camera in hand, trying to capture not just a building, but a feeling, a place in time. This makes me think of other photographers, like Walker Evans, who found beauty in the everyday, in the unadorned. It’s like they were all in dialogue, across decades and geographies, each adding their voice to the ongoing conversation of art. To me, that is what art is about: an embodied expression, an openness to uncertainty, and a multitude of interpretations.