This is an ongoing collaborative project that I began in the summer of 2024. I am looking for new subjects, anyone who is interested in participating can email me a photograph of themselves at this angle and I will send you a drawn portrait as thanks.

Historically, European portraiture has been used to depict and celebrate societal idealism. Portraits show the power, beauty, wealth, class, and other culturally desirable qualities of the subject. The tradition of realism in western portraiture, combined with the typical pose of the subject - usually facing the viewer - suggests an intent to express an individual identity by depicting an easily recognizable appearance.
 
These portraits are images of people in the act of looking away. They are drawn from an angle that distorts the planes of the face, making the jaw seem too far forward or the nose too big, disrupting the viewer's ability to easily identify the subject. They depict the subject without affectation. 
 
My intention in drawing these portraits is to explore the experience of identity within the constructs of societal norms and expectations, and to treat the complexities of self-perception and the passage of time with kindness.