N'ginganji 1997

Manuela Sambo made N'ginganji, with, it looks like, graphite or charcoal, and maybe some gouache – the materials themselves already suggest a kind of rawness, a directness of process. The subtle textures, achieved through varying the pressure of the mark-making, create a surface that’s both delicate and strong. Look at the way the vertical lines in the hair contrast with the shadowy planes of the face. There's a vulnerability in the subject's gaze, but a strength in her posture, a quiet stoicism. The slightly off-kilter symmetry adds to the feeling of unease, of something not quite resolved. Sambo’s work reminds me of some of the early expressionist portraits by Paula Modersohn-Becker, not just in the formal rendering of the human form, but in the shared sensitivity and understanding of the human condition.