You may recall that as part of The Power Issue, we've asked a few artist friends to submit their depictions of power. For today's offering, we'd like to share this piece by New York-based graphic designer, Stephen Sunderland.

We weren't exactly sure what to make of it. It sort of looks like some sort of gay super-hero charging up. Of course, Sunderland's not as nerdy as us, so we thought it best to call for a bit of explanation.

It seems that Sunderland intentionally chose a male figure as a commentary on the ways men have historically been granted power. At the same time, the man stands in the middle of various symbols, from which he draws his power. The male power figure, then, is a mere sum of his parts: powerless at his core, forced to draw on the things around him to survive. Sunderland says, "Power cannot rely on one thing, it needs other things."

It's worth noting, we think, that the man's crowned by a bomb: one of the most effective tools of false power. While more passive symbols of power revolve around him, it is the bomb that stands out, a reminder of male violence in power relations.