Mining the Gold Stope c. 1940

John Charles Haley made this print, Mining the Gold Stope, with graphite on paper, and it’s all about line. Look at the way Haley renders each figure in a dense accumulation of marks, a kind of methodical hatching that gives the miners weight and form. It's a real process of building something up through the act of drawing. The texture created through Haley's technique, is what gives the print its emotional depth. See how each line seems to vibrate with the effort and strain of the miners’ work. The relentless repetition of marks mirrors the repetitive, back-breaking labor being depicted. The way Haley lets the graphite build up in the darker areas adds a tactile quality. You can almost feel the grit and grime of the mine. It reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz, maybe because of the social consciousness, but also because of the way she used line to convey the weight of human suffering. Ultimately, it’s that ambiguity that makes this print so compelling. It's a testament to the power of art to evoke empathy.