“Morning.” “Homeschool and Housework.” “Dinnertime.” “Bedtime for the Boys.” “The Studio.” Five monochromatic woodblock prints that depict genre scenes from LaToya Hobbs’ life in 2021.
“Carving Out Time,” the name of the series on display in “LaToya M. Hobbs: It’s Time” at Harvard Art Museums, began with a list of all the things she does in a day, then a photoshoot with her family in various parts of the house where her partner aids in directing the composition of those photographs, then Hobbs creates these composite drawings that take two to three weeks to complete.
Afterwards, she carves them into, or one may say ‘out of’ since woodblock printing is a subtractive method. The three panels of paper are put into a manual press and joined together to form large-scale immersive works. The striations on the skin, elegant mixing of cross-hatched patterns and the rhythm of the work, reminds me of mudcloth.
“Carving Out Time” is a double entendre as it describes how process and figuratively making time for rest look one in the same. It also took place during Hobbs’ sabbatical from teaching. What makes the context of this show richer, likely lost on Harvard, is the resignation of the first Black president of the Ivy League institution, Claudine Gay. It is monumental to display rest and empathy for daily life. I began thinking, or perhaps praying: God, I hope the value of this daily life scene of a Black woman in a museum is not lost on people, especially the self-portrait in the studio. There is so much power in Black leisure, family and a two-artist parental household.