Portrait brings together an exceptionally diverse collection of contemporary approaches to the human figure. Across painting, drawing, photography, digital art and mixed media, the exhibition moves far beyond physical likeness, using portraiture to explore identity, memory, culture, vulnerability, belonging and the inner life of the individual.

What stood out to me while curating this exhibition was not only the high quality of the submissions, but how differently each artist approached the idea of a portrait. From carefully observed realism to abstraction, distortion and symbolic representation, each work offers its own way of seeing and understanding another person—or oneself. The cultural and artistic diversity across the exhibition makes these differences especially powerful.

There are portraits here that feel deeply personal and intimate, while others speak about wider questions of heritage, gender, society, relationships and cultural experience. Some artists place the face at the centre; others partially hide, transform or even remove it. Yet across these very different approaches, the human presence remains at the heart of the exhibition.

Together, these works remind us that a portrait is never simply a face. It can hold a history, an emotion, a question, a memory, or an entire sense of identity.

Anisa Mosaiebiniya
Curator, No. 35 Gallery