The cult artist became so fixated with blood tests that he ended up teaching a doctor how to do them. He saw this as a sign and it infused One Blood, a project drawing on intimate moments from his life
Frank Lebon is fascinated by blood. It’s the connecting theme that flows through his first art book, One Blood, a photographic project that takes us through the Covid-19 pandemic, a type 1 diabetes diagnosis, and love, family and friendship.
“I’m always collecting some sort of imagery, but very rarely do I feel it’s worthy of sharing with the world,” the 30-year-old photographer and film-maker says from his bright and airy studio in south London. “With One Blood, I felt a real sense of serendipity, where all these connecting things came together to give it value and meaning.”
For the past decade, Lebon’s work has observed themes of death, family and the downright banal, subverted through his meticulous editing style: often, a portrait is scribbled over, torn apart and restitched, at times reminiscent of American counterculture figures such as Jim Goldberg, Larry Clark and Harmony Korine. His short films, meanwhile, have documented a crime-scene cleaner, London squats and a dog that had witnessed a murder. His work is often laced with a dark sense of humour, and Lebon has become a cult figure in the London art scene – as well as producing ad campaigns for brands including Gucci and Dior.
One Blood began in early 2020, when Lebon’s finger inadvertently covered half the flash of his digital camera while taking a photo of his mum, Camilla, washing the image in a luminous red light. For most, it would be a soon-deleted mishap. “It reminded me of blood,” Lebon says, moving his finger over the happy accident. “I love how the moon in the background gives the photo context, that I haven’t just dialled up the red.”
