The Anti-Portrait Project: Justina Smith | October 8 - 27, 2016

Artist's Reception, Saturday, October 8, 4 - 6pm

the bearded dude in the yukon wilderness, mixed media on canvas, 16” x 16”, 2016

Justina speaks about this show: 

"The idea for this show came from a hash tag I saw on Instagram about a year ago. The ‘anti-portrait’ is a photograph of a person, only you can’t see their face. The subject typically has his or her back to the viewer; so it’s a picture of the back of someone who is looking at something. The thing I find really interesting about anti-portraits is that they raise a lot of questions for me:

I also find it intriguing that as the viewer of an anti-portrait; I get this sort of anxious curiosity about not knowing much about the situation I am looking at. Am I trespassing on a private moment? Should I stay? Should I move on? There are interesting stories that come from the anti-portraits I’ve photographed of family or friends on various trips. The story might seem obvious at first glance (a vacation, stopping to look at something, waiting for something, etc.) but it might be surprising. I’ve wondered what the stories are behind the anti-portraits I see on IG are when the photographer doesn’t post it underneath the image."

keira visits the muttart conservatory, mixed media on canvas, 16” x 16”, 2016

alex is a pretty good shot, mixed media on canvas, 16” x 16”, 2016