Man with zebra 1988

Curator: Mary Fedden created this artwork, "Man with Zebra," in 1988 using watercolor. It strikes me as a whimsical exploration of companionship. Editor: Absolutely. There's a peculiar stillness, almost dreamlike. The minimalist landscape only heightens the unexpected contrast of the zebra's bold stripes alongside the muted human figure. Curator: Fedden, known for her still life paintings, often incorporated animals, domestic and exotic, into her work. The painting was done late in Fedden’s career where a sense of humour is well established. But here there are undertones from the wider socio-political world, which was turbulent during the 1980s due to things like nuclear weapons, technology, globalisation, and the HIV pandemic. Editor: Intriguing! And the child in this portrait - or should I say the figure - has a strange ghost-like feeling about them because of the plain white paint. It feels both innocent and oddly melancholic; there’s something otherworldly, the pure white a blank slate. The lack of color allows the zebra, with its potent symbolic charge relating to duality and balance, to become more imposing. Curator: Perhaps. In the context of the late 1980s, however, this deliberate ambiguity is also striking. One can read it, for example, as reflecting anxieties around representation itself and highlighting anxieties around ‘the other’ during an era of widespread media growth. Editor: That’s a compelling way of viewing it. But do you not find it touching, that almost childish figure stands so bravely beside this exotic, almost chaotic animal? It suggests that balance can come with the strangest of partnerships. Curator: Well, whether balance or tension, the simplicity of the style emphasizes how loaded imagery always ends up being. Fedden leaves us, in her characteristically understated way, with potent social questions and symbolism, which makes this modest watercolor so lasting. Editor: It really is a piece where the simplicity on the surface belies a depth of layered meanings, and enduring appeal.