Then and Now - Masked Portraits, Vancouver 2022

Self portrait, 2021

This journey began in March of 2020 when, while filling my apocalypse jerrycans with gasoline, I glimpsed my masked reflection in the service station window. I realized this was the new public face of our indeterminate future. I began asking friends to send me masked selfies to use as the basis for paintings. Working closely with curator Denise Markonish, we assembled more masked selfies from an extended network artists, writers, activists, and cultural workers in the MASS MoCA community. These became the basis for an exhibition of over 50 painted portraits at MASS MoCA. I have continued this work painting masked portraits of communities in LA, and now Vancouver.

The present portraits were based on iPhone selfie-videos collected from the community surrounding my alma mater, ECUAD (Emily Carr University of Art and Design), and includes many former classmates, professors, and friends. Painted in acrylic on paper mounted to canvas, the resulting works are exhibited in a zoom-like grid, serving as a monument to community resilience in the face of these “socially distanced” times.

We stand in solidarity with all people of good will, in affirmation of health, life, and justice for all.

Artist talk event
ECUAD exhibition page