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Self-Portrait
Self-portrait by Amanda Davies, oil on board.
In response to a story where an elderly woman mistakenly applied toothpaste to her face instead of moisturiser, I put toothpaste on my face and washed it off numerous times. Toothpaste gets in your eyes and it stings. Taking hundreds of self-timer photos, I felt numb, exhausted and relieved afterwards. The self-portrait is drawn from the end of that process and reveals a shifting emotional state between distress and relief.
Here the figure lies horizontally - the position for sleeping, dreaming, healing and dying - yet the painting is exhibited vertically, eliciting a sense of disorientation.
At the point of decay, the perceived boundaries of the body dissolve and our sense of self can shrink or expand, allowing us to experience the edge of the self as elastic, Amanda Davies.
2018 Archibald Prize, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney, Australia (Monday 23 July 2018)
Self-Portrait
Self-portrait by Amanda Davies, oil on board.
In response to a story where an elderly woman mistakenly applied toothpaste to her face instead of moisturiser, I put toothpaste on my face and washed it off numerous times. Toothpaste gets in your eyes and it stings. Taking hundreds of self-timer photos, I felt numb, exhausted and relieved afterwards. The self-portrait is drawn from the end of that process and reveals a shifting emotional state between distress and relief.
Here the figure lies horizontally - the position for sleeping, dreaming, healing and dying - yet the painting is exhibited vertically, eliciting a sense of disorientation.
At the point of decay, the perceived boundaries of the body dissolve and our sense of self can shrink or expand, allowing us to experience the edge of the self as elastic, Amanda Davies.
2018 Archibald Prize, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney, Australia (Monday 23 July 2018)