National Portrait Gallery
Portraiture Now: Staging the Self
August 22, 2014 – April 12, 2015
This bilingual exhibition explores the association between the portrait and identity. The Latino artists represented work in a variety of media: photography, painting, mixed media, and sculpture. However, all are connected through their use of such dramatic tools as exaggeration, the creation of fictional characters, or the staging of narratives to question the idea that portraiture can convey the essence of the sitter. At the same time, they highlight the day-to-day frictions of cultural negotiation.
Presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Bear Hair Study by Carlee Fernandez. C-Print, 2004. Courtesy of the artist and ACME, Los Angeles
