Workers c. 1940

James Miekle Guy created this print, 'Workers', using bold colors and flattened shapes. It presents three adults and a child within a composition that feels both solid and fractured. The artist divides each figure down the middle with contrasting light and dark tones. The faces become masks expressing a duality within each individual. The white, looming arm across the seated black worker introduces tensions that reverberate throughout the composition. The figures are contained within a circle, yet the color blocks around them slice and divide the space. This fragmentation could reflect the splintering of social cohesion. Guy uses color not to describe reality, but to evoke emotional and psychological states. The overall effect is that of a world where identities and relationships are unstable. This reflects the complex issues around race and class. Guy asks us to consider how identity is not a fixed entity but is instead formed and influenced by socioeconomic factors. The structure of this work embodies the social fragmentation, but also the combined effort needed to uphold society.