Watchers 2022

Editor: Zoe Hawk's "Watchers," painted in 2022 with acrylics, depicts a surreal scene: children playing in a yard, but with a voyeuristic twist. What first strikes me is how…contained everything feels, yet brimming with unspoken narratives. How do you interpret this piece? Curator: I see echoes of both innocence and an unsettling gaze. The children, each in their isolated activity – one peering through binoculars, another at the window, and two in a ritualistic interaction within the pool - remind me of those triangular compositions favored by Renaissance painters, which place different elements in a tense relationship to each other, usually conveying social standing or other narratives of hierarchy. What do binoculars traditionally symbolize, in terms of human psychology? Editor: Distance, perspective… perhaps a desire for something unattainable, or the privilege of observation without participation? Curator: Precisely! Hawk gives us the watchers, yes, but also asks us to watch them, to question our own acts of witnessing, in ways that subtly critique our social dynamic. Does the architecture remind you of anything? Editor: Suburban America? Conformity? Curator: Yes. But it's almost like a stage set, isn't it? Flat, unreal. It seems she's reflecting anxieties regarding childhood, societal expectations, and even our relationship to visual culture. And what does water usually stand for? Editor: Rebirth, cleansing, mystery… Curator: Hawk subverts this with the contained artifice of the paddling pool, creating a commentary on controlled experiences. Ultimately, this work isn't just pretty, but deliberately thought-provoking. Editor: I never would have thought of it that way, considering symbols. Now I am struck by this pervasive unsettling quality; it all makes so much sense. Thanks.