Portraiture as Practice is a 12-month research and development project focused on developing my artistic voice through portraiture. After more than a decade working primarily in socially engaged and commissioned contexts, I am creating protected time to originate work led by my own questions rather than external briefs.
Through sustained portrait sessions in studio and on location, working across analogue and digital processes, I am developing a coherent body of work shaped by my own artistic judgement. Supported by mentoring from Carolyn Mendelsohn and Alys Tomlinson, this project marks a deliberate shift towards establishing an independent portrait practice.
This is about taking responsibility for my own creative direction and building the confidence to exhibit work as an artist in my own right.
Research Focus
This R&D is driven by a set of focused questions about authorship and artistic intent:
How can I develop a portrait practice that reflects my own visual language rather than responding to a brief?
What choices do I make when I am fully responsible for the direction of the work?
How can I draw on my socially engaged experience while creating work that stands independently as art?
Across the year, I will produce a body of 15–20 portraits, supported by structured mentoring and ongoing reflection. The emphasis is on clarity, consistency and confidence in my artistic decision-making.
Over the past decade my portrait work has been produced across commercial, community and editorial contexts.
