99% NO.100 2013

Curator: I am immediately struck by the intimacy of this portrait, a study in charcoal and graphite, it seems. Editor: Indeed. This is Sedrick Huckaby's "99% NO.100," currently residing in the Harvard Art Museums, though its exact date of creation is unknown. It’s quite small, only about 3 by 2 inches. Curator: It feels deeply personal, almost like a fleeting memory captured. There's a tenderness in the subject's downcast gaze, perhaps reflecting a moment of contemplation or even sorrow. The lack of precise details pulls it away from being a literal depiction and more into the realm of felt experience. Editor: I agree. Huckaby often uses portraiture to explore identity and community. The title "99%" suggests an element of incompletion. What might be missing? Is it a comment on representation itself, or perhaps the limited understanding of another person? Curator: The incompleteness speaks to the inherent limitations of art, how it can only ever approximate the fullness of a person's lived experience. It makes me question what we bring to the encounter with an artwork, what memories and emotions we project onto the subject. Editor: It makes me wonder about the politics of representation. Who gets to be seen and how? How does a museum decide what images to preserve and display, and what stories those images tell, or don't tell? Curator: Those are potent questions. It makes me think about the weight of symbols and the responsibility of the artist to use them ethically and thoughtfully. Editor: Yes, and it also makes me think about the responsibility of the viewer, to engage critically and empathetically with the art they encounter.