Clifford Wright

In Clifford Wright’s drawing, a knight emerges from the gloomy crosshatched background, looking more like a toy than an ideal soldier. The figure reminds us of the knights of children’s adventure stories of the 1800s and 1900s—heroic but faceless and nameless, so the reader can insert themselves into the adventure, imagining themselves as brave and gallant. These tales can teach worthy values to young readers, but they may present narrow ways of being, tied to stereotypical masculinity and violence. This is perhaps suggested in this work’s dark palette and scribbled ink.

–RN