My goal for this project is to build a large collection of paintings that mirror individual self-portraits.
With the development of social networking sites, I've developed an interest in how people take simple or complex snapshots of themselves, post them to their page as a representation of who they are and what they want people to see. It is an interesting form of control and, in a way, self-preservation. However, there is a strong likelihood that many people who don't know you will see this photo representation and make passing judgments as to who you may or may not be, much in the same way we make passing judgments on people we see in our neighborhoods every day.
Take a collection of these portraits and put them into the context of a gallery space or like setting, and you see a community of individuals - their likeness elevated and memorialized like the original commissioners of portrait painting; the rich and powerful – displayed as a portrait's original intent: expression of an individuals' character and moral quality.
Exhibited, the collection is as much about the individual as it is about the community it represents.
