Plantation Clock c. 1937

Al Curry made this ‘Plantation Clock’ with pencil, watercolor, and graphite on paper. The colours are muted and earthy, dominated by the browns of the wooden clock and the pale cream of the clock face. It reminds me of a faded photograph, like a memory trying to surface. There's a real delicacy in the way Curry renders the texture of the wood. You can almost feel the grain beneath your fingertips, while the graphite adds a subtle sheen to the metal parts, giving them a sense of weight. Look closely at the figure at the top, holding what looks like an umbrella – the way Curry uses thin washes of watercolor to create depth and shadow, it's really beautiful. It’s hard to see this piece, with its loaded title, without thinking about the work of someone like Kara Walker, who also explores the complexities of race and representation through silhouette. But Curry’s approach is different, more intimate somehow. He invites us to contemplate the layers of history and meaning embedded in this object, and to question the stories we tell ourselves about the past.