Portait23: Identity at the NPG—unmasking a new dimension in portraiture

Posted on 10 March, 2023

Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery usually arrive with an expectation of viewing any number of two-dimensional faces.

But when the gallery unveils its major new exhibition—Portrait23: Identity—it will be helping to redefine the genre of portraiture, and often in 3D.

The ambitious project, three years in the planning and to mark the Portrait Gallery’s third decade of operation, considers the broad concept of identity by inviting 23 preeminent contemporary artists from across the country to make a contribution. These include artists and collectives such as Nell, Abdul Abdullah, Angelica Mesiti, Atong Atem, Baby Guerrilla, Christopher Bassi, Deborah Kelly, Latai Taumoepeau, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, Naomi Hobson, Amrita Hepi, and Sally Smart.

Each artist has been invited to realise a new approach to portraiture without borders and across a range of mediums—not only painting, drawing and photography, but street art, suspended textiles, performance, ceramics, bronze, and soft sculpture.

Identity featuring works by Deborah Kelly and Kaylene Whiskey.

The daughter of a Cantonese/Malaysian mum and Welsh/Celtic dad, Melbourne-based artist Kate Beynon has always been conscious of the “in-betweenness” of her identity.

Kate has created an immersive, interactive “fantastic facemaking” space where visitors can make ancient-futuristic hybrid figures using her colourful motifs of scales, eyes, hands, botanical elements and auspicious symbols, in a forest-like and surreal “otherworldly” space.

Kate and Rali Beynon featuring Shapeshifter Zu & Fam Spirits 2023 by Kate Beynon

“I grew up surrounded by interesting imagery, drawing connections such as ornamental knotwork designs, and dragons being a positive entity and force in Chinese and Welsh cultures,” she says.

“Anatomical diagrams are a personal reference with my parents being retired doctors, and I love botanical imagery and the beneficial properties of plants. I’ve always felt drawn to lucky symbols, charms, creatures and guardian figures in stories, adapting these as talismans throughout my work.”

Another Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, Irish-born Fiona McMonagle, has created a portrait of Australian society by crafting 2000 watercolour animations into an enormous projection which takes viewers into mind’s eye of a vulnerable person walking alone through urban public spaces at night.

Identity featuring works by Atong Atem, Dylan Mooney and Deborah Kelly.

“Over the past 10 years or so, there’s been a lot of horrific attacks, random attacks on women in Melbourne, and that’s really had an effect on me and my friends and Australia at large. So that’s what really inspired the work—my own experiences with just walking home at night,” says Fiona.

“I think I wanted to address things like anxiety, fear, paranoia, all these things that a vulnerable person may feel as they’re walking home, and try and give the viewer an insight as to what that may feel like.”

Some Women You May Not Know, a work by Braidwood-based printmaker, Alison Alder, takes over one side of the Tim Fairfax Forecourt. Large colourful posters champion some of the many women who have contributed to Australian society and Alison’s understanding of the world, but whose images and legacies are all too often forgotten.

Some women you may not know, 2022-2023 by Alison Alder.

Sandra Bruce, NPG Director of Collection and Exhibitions says Portrait23 is an opportunity for the National Portrait Gallery to broaden preconceived ideas about portraiture and representation.

“Each of the artists selected is well-known and influential in their own right, but many would not consider themselves to be portraitists. The National Portrait Gallery is excited to work with them on this innovative, provocative exhibition, that moves beyond expected notions of what portraiture conventionally is,” says Sandra.

“A portrait is generally understood to be a literal visual likeness of a person, perhaps going so far as to reference their interests and endeavours.  With Portrait23, through directly engaging with some of Australia’s most exciting contemporary artists, we are bringing new, diverse concepts and perspectives around the genre, and its inherent universal theme of identity, to the table.”

Tarryn Gill with her work Limber.

Presented across four galleries from 10 March to 18 June 2023, Portrait23: Identity will be accompanied by a publication featuring nine commissioned pieces of writing from leading Australian authors reflecting broadly, and personally, on the notion of identity, as well as a program of performances, lectures and events. Portrait23: Identity is a free exhibition and exclusive to Canberra.

Penny Grist, Co-Curator says Portrait23: Identity is an invitation for artists to stretch, push and break through the constraints of portraiture.

“The exhibition has been defined by the artists actively asserting a multitude of experiences and perspectives that have the potential to expand and enrich our understanding of portraiture’s potential,” she says.

She added that the “magic” of the exhibition will be the invitation it gives visitors to consider their own identity after seeing the wildly creative prompts of the artists.

Country Waits, 2022 by Dr Julie Gough, Kelly Marie Slater.

NPG First Nations Curator, Meriam woman Rebecca Ray says Portrait23: Identity opens the Gallery up to a new kind of dialogue.

“While identity has always remained a core feature of portraiture, this exhibition reveals a shift in the genre towards honouring the power of storytelling.

“What we see are deeply personal evocations of themes that resonate collectively—cultural knowledge, the body, feminism, visibility and invisibility, activism, community, legacies of ongoing colonisation and journeys of migration.”

Feature image: Rebecca Ray, First Nations Curator, with works by Yarrenyty Arltere Artists