One of the ways we can talk about a work of art is in terms of its intrinsic qualities such as colour, materials, processes and organising principles. These questions encourage us to look more closely and state exactly what we see.

From Tarzan to Rambo. is a large-scale black and white photographic work which has been treated through drawing and painting to create different effects. As such it is a multi-media piece - neither a photograph, a painting nor a drawing - and these different techniques are deliberately used as part of the meaning of the work.

Discussion Points

• What different things can you see in the image? Who or what do you think these things are? (there are twelve photographic faces - Sonia Boyce herself - in two groups of six, twelve 'golliwog' faces in the strip on the left, a central strip of fabric pattern and a strip of more patterning on the right. In between the first and second pair of faces on the left is a pale pink drawing of a man looking upwards - Tarzan - and between the second and third pair some comic strip 'natives' next to trees, with the words 'THE BUZZING BIRD SENDS US A VICTIM'. On the right there are photographic images of leaves overlying the faces).

• How are the images arranged? (symmetrically - with variations)

• What is the connection between the faces on the left, and the ones on the right? (the images are the same, but they have been treated in different ways)

• What is the same, and what is different about the two sides? (faces appear 'black and white' on the left, in 'colour' on the right, there are 'cartoon' leaves on the left, and 'real' ones on the right, for example).

• How do you think this image was made? (it is a large photograph, based on photo-booth images. The original images were treated as a form of collage, with a real leaf sewn on (on the right), photocopied strips of patterned fabric attached, and the images of Tarzan and the 'natives' traced from comic books and drawn on. This was then photographed and blown up to a large scale, with parts of the surface then being redrawn and painted over.)

• How are the faces made to look different? (the six faces on the right are coloured with paint, the lower three on the left have been drawn on, to make them look like drawings).

• How many different ways are there to represent people in this work? (six or seven - photography (black and white, and effectively colour), painting, drawing, and three forms of 'cartoon' or 'comic' representation - the 'golliwogs', the line drawing of Tarzan which has been painted over, and the black line drawing of the 'natives'.