The American photographer Paul Caponigro famously said: “It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” This statement encompasses what many artists seek – to create an image that transcends the physical and taps into the essence of a sitter. Likewise, in the National Portrait Gallery article, What Makes a Great Portrait, curator Paul Moorhouse says that his favourite painting has “to do with the capacity of art to intimate truth, however unpalatable.” But is this the only way to make a portrait?
Photographer Gerwyn Davies (b. 1985) upends the assump- tion that a portrait must reveal some essential truth about its subject. Through his lens, the self is slippery and unstable. Davies is known for handmade costumes that simultaneously obscure and draw attention to the subject. The artist explains: “The double bind of a figure both conspicuous and nowhere to be seen, hiding in plain sight, is indicative of my investment in queering the act of representation and renegotiating … visibility.”
Davies’ latest exhibition, Calypso, conjures up a world of Aus- tralian tropical kitsch. In one image, a figure stands by a pool, their upper body disappearing into a swirl of bubble-gum pink foam shapes. Elsewhere, Davies’ tattooed legs emerge from a tangle of lurid green inflatable crocodiles. This is beach-side fun dialled up to the maximum. Calypso is a celebration of visual abundance and excess, yet at its core lies a serious reminder: the self is not fixed. It is an act of invention, a statement of identity in a world that too often fails to see people for who they truly are.
Calypso is at Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney until 14 June: michaelreid.com.au
Image credits:
Gerwyn Davies, Bather II, 2024. Archival pigment print 85 x 150 cm.
Gerwyn Davies, Bait, 2025. Archival pigment print. 120 x 100 cm.
Gerwyn Davies Magpie, 2025. Archival pigment print. 90 x 130 cm.
