Millbank, Black Version 1972

Curator: Right, let’s dive into Norman Ackroyd’s “Millbank, Black Version.” It’s held here at the Tate. Editor: My first impression is starkness; a powerful contrast. The upper part of the work just swallows the light, and there is very little light to work with in the lower band. Curator: Absolutely. Ackroyd's work often deals with edges, thresholds, and the tension between darkness and light. Think about Millbank, for example: it's a place of transition, where the land meets the water. Editor: That threshold also reads as a psychic boundary. The darkness becomes a kind of unknown, while the land seems precariously balanced at the edge of consciousness. Curator: Precisely. And that's where the symbolism gets interesting. What does it mean that this land we see is an unidentifiable mass? Editor: It invites us to project our anxieties, or hopes, upon it. The starkness itself becomes a mirror. Curator: It's that very lack of detail that makes the image so potent, I think. You are invited to make your own symbols, and to project them into the work. Editor: This piece leaves you pondering the darkness, doesn’t it? A visual poem that echoes in the chambers of the mind.