Frankie Pike (Bending Backwards), Collaborative Portrait
Frankie kneels in a grassy patch of sunlit flowers in front of a tree and fallen branches. They have red hair, blue jeans, a black shirt, and blue platform boots. They have their back arched toward their feet and gaze directly at the camera.
Frankie Pike
Frankie Pike is a writer and photographer currently based in Austin, TX. They love telling people’s stories through any and every medium.
Website: frankiepike.art
Instagram: @frankiepfotos
No Walk in the Park
Project Statement: In No Walk in the Park, I investigate ideas of safety and its inherent tradeoff with freedom during my daily walks to the park near my apartment. I juxtapose nature’s organic elegance and openness with bright, unnatural colors, lights, and poses to mirror the intrusive thoughts and anxieties interrupting my attempts to peacefully savor my surroundings. By visually recounting a day through my eyes, I reveal the everyday beauty, terror, hope, vulnerability, and isolation of my experience living with post-traumatic stress disorder.
(The audio file above is a recording of a spoken word poem, the lines of which derive from the titles of every image in Pike’s No Walk in the Park series)
wilting in
the light
A single wilted flower appears in a green vase with a butterfly print on a cluttered table. The blinds on the window behind it cast a shadow. There’s an unopened cardboard package with a ring resting on top.
i emerge
A horizontal streak of light lights up a rundown apartment complex. The doors are bright red, the window units leak, and a staircase blocks the exit. A foldable chair and a stool appear in the foreground on the cracked cement.
disaster can strike
at any moment
Light shining through a staircase creates a shadow on an outer wall of the apartment complex. A bright red fire hydrant appears in the center of the frame.
but i’m free in flight
The sun shines through big green trees with long, delicate branches at a park. There’s a lens flare, creating a red-orange orb. A street and “No Parking” signs appear in the foreground.
i choose it
over safety
A chain fence stands unsteadily in a park on the right side of the frame. To the left, there are bright green trees with little pink flowers.
i choose it
despite the night
Two old, dead-appearing trees stand in a park. Bright green grass is covered in tree branches that have fallen, like a tree graveyard. There is brightly colored graffiti on the wall behind the trees, around the park.
bloody kneed
There is a collage of layered copies–giving the impression of flight—of Frankie’s legs and bare feet in the air taken from their perspective as they swing. Their right knee is bloodied and their left knee has a bandage from a previous accident. There are tree shadows in the background.
i get back up again
A concrete sewer drain is covered in bright graffiti, with the word “DANK” lettered in turquoise. There is a stream below, and trees with light green leaves form a border around it.
and fly
Black, green, and yellow balloons float in the air, tied up high to a wooden post. The post is in a park with a basketball court. Dark, spindly trees make up the background against a white-gray sky.
until the sun sets
There are collaged images of Frankie standing on a dead, fallen tree at night. There is a bright flash, and Frankie poses bending in half, like a dead tree. They wear a black tank top, blue jeans, and mismatched boots.
and i remember
Frankie lays askew on a fallen outdoor chair connected to a table at an out-of-business 7/11. There is green turf under them and graffiti on the table. They make eye contact with the camera.
like it isn’t a memory
Two images are collaged together: On the left, a red and white “Do Not Enter” sign captured with a bright flash. On the right, an image taken through the peephole of Frankie’s front door. A home and trees appear through the small circle.
like it’s
happening now
Frankie appears in their bathroom. Their pink eye makeup runs down their face, as if they’ve been crying, their hair is a mess, and they are unclothed. Their hand rests on the wall in front of them in the tight space.
hands
on my skin
Frankie’s hand tightly clenches a red blanket. They have a tattoo on their wrist that says “Fear is a Liar” and have written the phrase many more times on and around their wrist in permanent marker in red and purple ink.
it’s fight
or flight
An exit sign appears on a messy raised kitchen countertop. There are lights, candles, and various cords around it. Paint swatches hang on the wall to the left, and dried flowers and bananas appear in the background.
i know of a prison
A photo of Frankie locking their apartment door is collaged with an image of a fallen tree branch so that it appears that they are locking the tree branch in or out. There are various self-defense tools on their keychain.
it lives
in my mind
Frankie appears, blurry, with a bright flash and a black background. There’s a shadow on their nose, their eyes are closed, and they wear bright pink eye makeup.
where flowers
never wilt
Frankie sits in their apartment with their arms crossed. In the front arm, they hold the pink flower from the first image before it wilted, when it was new and fresh. There’s a bedside table with books and a lamp in the background.
(because they’ve already died)
There is a messy scene in Frankie’s bedroom. A sheet covers a chair, giving a ghost-like effect, and the bed is bare. Laundry is piled in a basket and on chairs. There are little dots of light from the reflection off of a disco ball.