99% NO.81 2013

Curator: Here we have Sedrick Huckaby's "99% NO.81," a small, intimate piece currently residing in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the raw, almost unfinished quality of the lines, like a fleeting memory captured in charcoal. Curator: Huckaby's work often grapples with themes of family, community, and faith. This image, with its child-like figure, hints at the vulnerability inherent in those connections. Editor: And the figure itself seems confined, almost trapped, by the heavy, boxy shape surrounding it. You can see the process so clearly - the layering of the lines, the pressure of the artist's hand. It speaks to a laborious construction of both image and meaning. Curator: Perhaps that confinement reflects societal structures and limitations imposed on the subject, or the artist. How the public roles and private burdens intersect. Editor: I’m curious about that percentage in the title. Is it a measure of certainty? Imperfection? It adds another layer to the physical creation of this image. Curator: Food for thought on how the image functions as a record of social and material conditions. Editor: Indeed, it leaves you contemplating the weight of those unseen forces.