Expecting 2020

Curator: Let’s take a look at Cornelius Annor’s painting, "Expecting," created in 2020. It’s a portrait of a couple, the woman pregnant, embracing against a geometric background. Editor: It immediately strikes me as intimate, almost domestic. The color palette is bold but limited, creating a sense of warmth, a safe interior. What's compelling about the materials to you? Curator: Annor uses acrylic paint here, which is interesting. Acrylics, compared to oils, allow for quicker layering. You see this directness in the application—it lends itself to his distinct approach. Editor: It also impacts its accessibility, wouldn't you say? Acrylics are so intrinsically linked to mass production and availability of materials to different people, whereas historically other mediums were reserved for elite painters or sculptors due to constraints on production or cost of materials. It challenges the notion of high art. Curator: Precisely! And note the patterned fabric of the sofa – it’s not just a backdrop. It could signify the cultural background or heritage, integrated directly into the structure of their lives, not as something separate from their domestic intimacy. The pattern could come from local materials available, further demonstrating accessibility and perhaps a critique of cultural boundaries. Editor: Absolutely, that textile becomes part of the visual language, informing our interpretation of the setting and perhaps, indirectly, social class, and taste. How do you see the couple represented within this framework? Curator: The expectant mother is at the forefront. Her dress seems almost monumental, shaping how light and the observer’s gaze will rest upon her. The depiction reinforces a narrative of maternal love and care, so key to societal and familial continuation. Her expectant joy radiates from her face! Editor: Her pose is significant too, protecting the child. You see images like these of mothers awaiting children throughout history. What statement do you believe that this work, coming out of Ghana as it does, makes about how it enters our modern understanding of families? Curator: It presents us with a visual counter-narrative. It’s not romanticized or staged. These images capture a very human moment – joyful, secure, a bit humorous in the husband's smile. It’s quietly radical to present African lives as simply and complexly lived as lives everywhere. Editor: Indeed. What’s so striking about this image, and a credit to Annor’s ability to capture and express, is how he is able to translate the mundane act into a painting brimming with love and humanity. Curator: Absolutely, and looking at it with a renewed attention to craft and making, the labor involved, shifts our appreciation for what portraiture in the twenty-first century can achieve. Editor: This exploration reveals much about contemporary art's ability to synthesize individual moments and societal contexts in a single, poignant artwork.