Poultry 

Curator: Right, let's discuss George Fennel Robson's "Poultry," held here at the Tate. It's a wash drawing, about 20 by 25 centimeters. What’s your first impression? Editor: It feels…fleeting. Like a memory half-formed. The quick, loose strokes give it a sense of immediacy, yet the subject matter—domestic fowl—feels rooted in a very specific, possibly exploitative, system. Curator: Absolutely. The materiality of the wash – the way the ink interacts with the paper – suggests a quick study. It’s not a finished piece, but rather an exploration of form through humble, readily available materials. The drawing embodies a relationship to labor. Editor: But consider the social hierarchy embedded here. Chickens, contained, perhaps destined for consumption. Robson, as an artist, is extracting beauty, while potentially ignoring the realities of animal husbandry and human intervention in nature. Curator: That's a valid point; it prompts us to question the artist's, and our own, relationship to the means of production. Editor: Precisely. Seeing beyond the apparent simplicity of the medium helps us interrogate broader social narratives. It's in that tension where the artwork becomes truly engaging. Curator: Indeed. It pushes us to consider not just the 'how' of art-making, but also the 'why' and 'for whom.' Editor: Exactly. And those are dialogues worth having.