Drawing (with pigment) 1995 - 1999

Curator: Here we have Helena Almeida’s “Drawing (with pigment),” held in the Tate Collection. Editor: It's immediately striking—the starkness, the isolated hands. There's a sense of almost desperate creation, or perhaps the opposite—a sterile, detached act. Curator: Almeida, born in 1934, often explores the female body and lived experience through her work. This drawing, though simple in its execution, is full of socio-historical concepts. The hand itself becomes a tool—a feminine tool—for inscription. Editor: Absolutely. The gesture of writing, who is allowed to write, whose stories get told... it all speaks to power dynamics, especially given Almeida's broader body of work challenging patriarchal narratives. What narratives do we authorize, and what narratives are erased? Curator: Indeed. And how the act of "drawing" becomes performative, a commentary on its own creation. Editor: It really invites us to question the nature of representation itself. Curator: A potent reminder of the politics embedded in every mark we make. Editor: Yes, a simple image that generates complicated ideas.