My project engages with a community of people, drawn from across sub-communities and presenting them together as a portrait of the suburb. This is in no way comprehensive, nor strictly representative, but tries to include people from across the socio-economic range of the area. With this aim in mind, it is an exercise in social mapping, as I explore the social connections I currently have within the suburb and meet my subjects through other people or gatherings.
When searching for other artists who also worked with portraiture and groups of people, I found two whose work is of particular proximity to mine. While these other artists do not seem to acknowledge an underlying faith as I do, their work is still of interest for comparison with my own project as they are other approaches of combining group portraiture and social action.
The first is Todd Drake. Drake has a blog titledmake art like you carewhich is dedicated to the combination of art with social action. In 2008 to 2009 he completed the Esse Quam Videri Project, where he facilitated the construction of a number of photographic self-portraits by Muslims living in North Carolina and Manama. The project title is the North Carolina state motto and means, ‘to be rather than to seem’. On this basis, Todd sought to emphasise the humanity of the American Muslim subjects and help break down barriers of animosity other Americans may have held against them. A website was also created to present the work. What I find interesting is observing how Drake made use of digital photography to aid in creating the portraits of a group. The snap-shot enabled the participants to present themselves as they wished in an immediate and potentially affordable fashion. While some subjects did make drawings of themselves, the photo also enabled other subjects who did not have such technical skills to participate in the self-presentation.
(Drake giving a video tour of the exhibition prior to the opening)
Another relevant community-centered portrait project that I found is one created by The Art Place, a not-for profit animation and art studio established in Suttons Bay, Michigan, and run by artists Ken Scott and Chris Allen Wickler. The Lunch Crowd (below) is a short film made up of a series of additive animations, based on photographs of a group of elderly people who share a Friday lunch together at the Suttons Bay Friendship Community Centre. People from children to 70-year olds were involved in the creation of the animations, coordinated by the two artists. The animations show the gradual revealing of the face, as lines are added, following the student as they draw from a photo. Audio is also used, with segments playing from some interviews with the subjects. I found this project an especially intriguing example as it employs not only group portraiture but animation as well. Likewise, its use of sound allows me to further consider the place and nature of this element in my own work.
In this animation of Kaye, I have included a recording of our conversation surrounding her typing. Despite the increasing distortion of the visuals, the sound ties the portrait back to our interaction, the start of the work itself.
At the end of the year I plan to have an exhibition in a venue in Surry Hills, where the local community may congregate and meet around the animated portraits. In particular those who I drew will be invited, with the hope that new relationships may form between people from different socio-economic circles. At the very least, people may get to know their neighbors better and it will be a community-building event. I have asked my church if I may use their hall, and if this goes ahead then that will provide a nice link between the project and my own entry point to community in the suburb.
