Between the Frames

At Alder Museum, meticulous conservator Mara Bell handles fragile paintings more easily than messy people. Across four linked episodes, exhibition problems, invisible labor, imperfect spaces and difficult choices follow her from the gallery into everyday life, where learning what to preserve, change or simply leave alone becomes unexpectedly personal. As the exhibition takes shape, Mara works alongside colleagues and friends whose priorities do not always match her own. Each new artwork forces her to reconsider what good care actually looks like—at work, at home and in the relationships she cannot solve with a checklist.