Artist statement

The concept of presence demands a time when there was absence. The transience of life is universally feared, grieved and speculated. This brings forth the desire for a personal legacy, often through developing tangible ‘proof’ of existence. The immortalisation of oneself is garnered in personal possessions; belongings act as a window to the owner. My assemblage gathers such possessions, collectively contributing to my whole portrait, and explores the relationship between materials and identity. The larger the collection of belongings, the greater the picture depicted. Simultaneously, these belongings find themselves as tokens of identity wherein their loss can cause a form of grieving. Jarring sections of negative space between the found objects allude to both losing something and objects failing to fully articulate someone's character. With such insight, onlookers can construct and devise my identity which, without such consideration, would otherwise fail to represent anything at all.

Process

To create this artwork, I identified found objects that represented my personality and character to use as substrates. I used the traditional medium of oil paint to create a self portrait and fragmented my image across found objects using hyperrealist painting techniques. During my refined and precise painting process, I was cautious to maintain a front-on perspective when painting each object to ensure it could be viewed as a 'flat' image from the front. Using a template, the painted substrates were placed back in precise positions to form my face.

About the artist

I have completed year 12 as a student studying Visual Arts and Media Arts alongside science and humanities subjects. As a self-taught artist of multiple mediums – painting, drawing, digital, etc – I joined the Visual Art Excellence program at Corinda State High School from year 7-9 and continued Visual Art as a subject throughout my senior schooling. I am honoured to have been chosen for this award and hope others enjoy my work as much as I enjoyed making it.