Tensions

Nine standing figures at left of centre of painting in middle distance. Their shadows are being cast in front of them. To their left and in front is a pole with a sign pasted on it. To the right of the standing figures are three box-like chattel houses. Behind at right and left fields and hills are depicted. The work is Modernist, with Expressionism seeming to be the main style articulated through the painting, as well as Cubist influences. In a statement about the work, Bain described her concept for the piece: "The figures have turned their backs on the agricultural labour and cramped housing of the past. The poster on the pole bears a message for their present. The future is unformed. What of potential? The group is trapped within tightly controlled contours of neatly ploughed fields and closed houses. A bright light casts angular, explosive shadows."