Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

The subject of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Man Big Hands is entirely fictive, coming from the artist’s imagination. Built from layers of charcoal, the figure-with his averted gaze, tipped shoulder, and interlaced fingers-poses in a way that suggests a great sense of psychological interiority.

In a 2017 interview, Yiadom-Boakye commented on her approach to representing Black subjects: “When people ask about the aspect of race in the work, they are looking for very simple or easy answers. Part of it is when you think other people are so different than yourself, you imagine that their thoughts aren’t the same. When I think about thought, I think about how much there is that is common.”