Sleeping Students Noon Lecture Hall Campinas

Flat noon light floods the north wall of an art classroom in Campinas, cutting through humid wet-season air. Dust particles float in thick shafts across the room, illuminating rows of students slumped in the back. Wooden desks hold open sketchbooks and charcoal sticks, their surfaces worn smooth by use. The students rest with heads bowed against arms or propped on elbows, their school uniforms slightly rumpled. Behind them, shelves of paint tubes and canvas easels stand silent. The depth of the room stretches away, layers of empty seats in the foreground giving way to the sleeping figures. A shadow from a window frame falls across a stack of dry clay pots near the aisle.