This work began in 1999 as a combination of both paintings and installations. Portraiture is a reoccurring theme for me in my painting. Self -portraits require introspection in the same way that portraits of a model require an awareness of them and their presence. To capture their presence is to overtake them.

In the installations, mirrors or other reflective surfaces are there to engage (the Other). In this way they are integrated into the piece; their own gaze is reflected back on to them, the observer, as they become the observed. As for the portraits, I was in search of others, whose conscious and willing participation was absolutely necessary.

In offering this part of themselves, they demonstrated a desire to be both (present and presented. ) The pose itself is not natural but one of constraint, of uncertainty, of waiting. The back is turned and vulnerable.

The camera and I are at once too present and other times it is the model who evolves into an identity in and of themselves. all their own.
Watch as this part of the model is revealed, fleshy, coded and sensual,imposed me to respect my efforts to produce a portrait. Each figure delivers itself differently and the camera suprisingly captures this. Next , I veil and disrupt the image so as finally this exchange is made more “pregnant”.Which means to say that in the end the camera does not remain constant. In this way, each portrait is produced in an identical format, which once assembled creates a wall or an image of propinquity, closeness.

Maryline Brunet

Alexis Trousset