99% NO.30 Roy L 2013

Editor: So, here we have Sedrick Huckaby's drawing, "99% NO.30 Roy L," housed here at Harvard. It's a small but intense portrait, seemingly done in ink or graphite. I'm struck by the raw, almost frantic lines. What’s your take on this piece? Curator: I see a powerful exploration of labor and representation. The artist's choice of seemingly simple materials—paper and ink—belies the complex social context embedded within. Consider the labor involved in both the creation and the subject's life. How does the artist's mark-making, its immediacy, reflect or challenge traditional notions of portraiture and value? Editor: That's a compelling way to look at it. I was just seeing the expression. Curator: The expression is part of it, but the means of production, the deliberate marks...they speak volumes about the subject's presence in a society that often marginalizes laboring bodies. Editor: I never thought of it that way. Thanks for the insight!