The Economist – Inequality – The Broken Ladder 2019

Curator: Looking at Owen Gent's "The Economist – Inequality – The Broken Ladder" from 2019, what strikes you first? Editor: Scale, definitely scale. We're confronted with these huge, looming feet on stairs, dwarfing the tiny figures at the bottom. There's a very tactile quality to it, almost like coarse sandpaper. I can almost feel the grain of the surface. Curator: The perspective and contrast are certainly potent. Gent masterfully uses the visual metaphor of the ladder, or stairs, to symbolize social mobility or perhaps the lack thereof. Notice how the figures at the bottom are cast in shadow. What do they symbolize? Editor: The people at the top, stepping on each stair and moving further and further away from them. There's a strong feeling of separation – a chasm widened by the physical distance of the steps and the dark shoes of the upper body. The grainy texture also does add to that separation in status—I can feel their roughness through the image! I am thinking a digital artwork might try too hard for this type of quality, but instead the result creates something different than its origin, with unique physical qualities like a vintage print or book page. Curator: Indeed. And consider how the line work defines the edges of those stairs, those "rungs" of society, creating rigid divisions. It subtly highlights the constructed nature of this hierarchy. This arrangement evokes potent ideas about aspiration and the seemingly insurmountable obstacles some face in climbing that ladder. The ladder as image or icon of progress has a complex and changing trajectory, if we think of modernism through postmodernity. Editor: Right, and the orange-red and white of the stairs also gives off an official and imposing air, a codified sense of inequality. It reminds me of institutions and organizations, not of natural inequality at all. More of an imposed state. Even digital tools create an end that seems physical! Curator: Yes, the colors almost mimic caution signs. It makes you consider not just the structure, but who built the ladder, who maintains it, and who benefits from its existence. The piece offers much to consider regarding systemic inequality. Editor: Agreed. Gent provides a powerful, visually arresting representation of social disparity through keen material and technical awareness. Curator: I'll leave contemplating that metaphor with a new dimension to me as well. Thanks!