Robert Longo Study of Cotton Field, 2022
Created in 2022, Robert Longo's charcoal drawing of cotton plants belongs to The Agency of Faith series, a body of work that strives to trouble national and environmental narratives. The artist explains that, with this series, he wants to highlight 'American sin images' that reflect troubled episodes in the country's past that continue to generate powerful debate today. While the close-up image of cotton plants initially appears innocuous, even beautiful, it gestures to the forced labour historically used to produce the crop, evoking America's historic ties to slavery. Longo employs the expressive potential of his chosen materials to achieve high contrast between the whiteness of the fibrous cotton buds and the dark stalks that support these cloud-like balls. 'I wanted to rip chunks of images of the world and put them in front of people,' says the artist, 'ask them what they think about it. Ask people to take a stance.'
