Face in the darkness 2018

Thiago Boecan made this drawing called Face in the Darkness, and it looks like they used charcoal or something similar to make these marks. I love the way the artist uses these short, choppy lines to create a face out of the darkness. It's like the face is emerging from the shadows, bit by bit. There is this real sense of touch in the way the artist has applied the charcoal. You can almost feel the pressure of their hand as they made each stroke, they are really digging into the page. Check out the mouth – it's like a little knot of energy, a focal point in all this darkness. I think that in this piece, Boecan is having a conversation with artists like Käthe Kollwitz, who also used drawing to express really difficult emotions. It reminds us that art is always part of an ongoing dialogue. It's not about having all the answers, it's about embracing the questions.