The Crimson Night Before Goodbye (2024–2025) is a narrative photographic work that I created to reimagine the visual language of cinema through the form of a 35mm contact sheet. Shot entirely on a single roll of film, the series unfolds as a sequence of 39 interconnected frames chronicling one bittersweet night between Walter Davis and Margaret Hawthorne, an interracial couple in 1940s New York City. The story follows their final evening together before Walter leaves for war which shows an intimate, fragile stretch of time suspended between love and inevitability.

Within this night’s unfolding narrative stands Frederick Hawthorne, Margaret’s brother, whose presence adds a complex social and emotional layer to the work. Frederick, an apathetic and wealthy man, joins them to take his sister home once the night is over, as Walter must report for the draft before dawn. Beyond his narrative purpose, Frederick represents a contrasting facet of America during World War II; the insulated comfort of privilege that allowed some to remain untouched by the moral and emotional weight of the times. His detachment and quiet indifference mirror a broader social distance, one that subtly underscores the divisions of class and attitude that persisted even as the world was at war.

At its core, “The Crimson Night Before Goodbye” explores love and separation through the intertwined themes of race, class, and duty, situating private emotion within a larger historical framework. By using the contact sheet as both a cinematic storyboard and a living archive, I aim to merge the authenticity of analog photography with the pacing of film. Each frame not only captures a fleeting moment but also the undercurrents of a changing America where affection, uncertainty, and silence coexist. The work ultimately becomes both a love story and a reflection on the worlds that collide when personal tenderness meets the harsh distance of history.