Washing Linen, Tomb of Djari 2050 BC

This drawing, “Washing Linen, Tomb of Djari”, is one of those simple line drawings that opens up a whole world. You can see how an artist anonymous worked with real economy, just with a pen, to conjure this ancient scene. I love how pared back the mark-making is. It looks like they are referencing existing paintings and murals when they made this work. The artist probably had a really intimate connection with those original painted tombs, so they're making something new that's based on something old. I know that feeling, you are standing in a museum and you see something and you think I have to respond to that. The artist is in conversation with history. The act of drawing, of copying, is not just a mechanical exercise, it's a way of feeling and almost inhabiting the original maker. I see some interesting variations in the thickness and darkness of the line. It's like the artist is pushing and pulling, trying to find their way into the scene. It gives it all a sense of real presence, you know? It shows how the language of art persists and reinvents itself across time, with each artist contributing their own accent to the conversation.