Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Artistic
Train of Thought

I began this project as the pandemic was unfolding in early 2020. The regional trains coming out of Barcelona are covered in graffiti and I started taking pictures on my journeys up and down the coast to a town on the Maresme. I had started to help a friend restore an old house and by the time the pandemic got going I found myself out of any meaningful work. So, I continued working on the house up the coast taking these trains for the entirety of the covid period. These images are not only very much related to the breakdown that occurred in society over this time but also some personal issues too. I feel we are arriving at a pivotal moment. There is a blurring of the lines, a diffusion of reality, a masking of what’s real. Evolution is the train that has facilitated the trip, once slow and beautiful but now at break neck speed where it’s hard to sit back and view things as they are. We are heading towards somewhere, a moment in our history, as we always are, were and will be. These pictures are about the struggle between now and then, the virus and us, the future and the past. We are all on a journey individually and collectively. This is my perspective, my take on the very important destination we are closing in on.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2020
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Barcelona, Spain
Camera: iPhone 5s
Copyright: © Frankie Malone