I make figurative work examining identity, presentation and performativity, and how we communicate who we are in a multitude of ways. I find clothing, in particular, is one of the most immediate and impactful forms of non verbal communication.
Through dress and self presentation, we project versions of ourselves, shaping how others perceive us and how we wish to be seen. From these visual cues, assumptions are made about class, personal beliefs, politics, wealth, profession and morals.
I view clothing as a kind of cosplay, a way of performing identity. The way people treat others can shift drastically based on these surface readings of appearance.
My practice aims to portray sitters authentically, capturing a sense of their personality with a not quite neutral, but resting expression that feels revealing but composed. At the same time, I emphasise the artifice: the layers of performance we adopt to communicate who we are to the world.
Each portrait exists in a neutral environment to keep focus on the subject. By translating a person into paint, the work becomes both a representation and its own separate entity, echoing the tradition of historical icon painting, where people become symbols as well as subjects.
I have approached this self portrait in this way, as both a performance of self and an exploration of “authenticity”.