Study of Atlas 

Curator: Immediately, the weight he carries feels immense, doesn’t it? You can sense the pressure on his back, the tension in his limbs. Editor: I find it interesting to consider this particular rendering, "Study of Atlas," by Charles Haslewood Shannon. Note the medium is graphite on paper. The image is figural, focusing on the mythic figure of Atlas holding aloft what one assumes is the celestial sphere. Curator: Myth provides this really potent metaphor here—one that’s incredibly salient when we consider marginalized experiences, those that have to support entire worlds on their shoulders, often invisibly. You see so many stories of how that labor isn't fairly valued or acknowledged. How this figure is sexualized even in pain—it does complicate the reading, to say the least! Editor: Yes, the materiality matters greatly. The very fact that it’s graphite—humble, accessible, mass-produced—imbues it with certain implications regarding labor. Was this a piece created for the market, or perhaps a preparatory sketch meant for some greater output and circulation? Curator: Precisely. We are invited to deconstruct not just WHAT but WHY. Perhaps consider a modern retelling by way of Black feminist thought, centering on intersectionality, what kinds of 'worlds' Black women in particular are expected to bear and sustain, both historically and in our current moment. Editor: These rapid, exploratory strokes further emphasize its nature as a ‘study’ but they might also reference speed of industrial processes...even commodified suffering! This makes me contemplate whether a connection exists between the conditions that mythologize masculine toil and the ongoing systems that extract labor. Curator: Indeed. I appreciate this piece, not for any virtuosity, but for it being the space to explore themes of labour, expectation, endurance…and resistance against impossible pressures placed on individuals within societal constructs. Editor: It seems apt that we've touched on production, on materiality, to uncover how even an unassuming study drawing can uncover something powerful on systems, struggle and burden.