Whatever is new about this show is not yet visible

The portrait, usually commissioned, was one of the most popular expressions in the art world — a claim to identity and a subtle exercise in status, a visual declaration that said, “I exist, and here’s the proof it matters.” We can’t escape looking at other people’s faces, and our brains are wired to see expressions in the inanimate world around us. The early, subconscious processing allows us to attribute identity, emotion, or intent to the simplest of forms. A circle, two dots, a house can look like they’re smiling if you look long enough. Subjected to the scrutiny of the viewer, the portraits stopped smiling a long time ago. They’ve since learned to play, engage and respond to the viewer’s gaze. Whatever is new about this show is not yet visible presents the portrait as a reflective space, where art no longer carries the weight of personal projections but transforms itself into a medium for renegotiating our presence in the world. Exposure is no longer an option; it has become an inevitable condition, a continuous loop of transaction-feedback, where emotions like shame, fear, and confusion dissolve into fleeting light impulses. The works question the viewer's place in the visual economy. We have always struggled to control the gaze, only to find ourselves conforming to the norms shaped by it. The exhibition explores how these dynamics may shift when we understand the portrait not as a fixed image but as a fluid, continuous flow of vision. Who is this person really? Who are we to the subject, and who are they to us? The portrait isn’t just about capturing a face; it’s about making space for everything that cannot be held, for everything that escapes the frame. It transforms from a reflection into a refusal — a refusal to be contained, to be understood in the terms set by anyone else. In the exhibition, it takes on multiple roles: a vehicle for subversion, a tool for navigating social and economic networks, a battleground for renegotiating the gaze, especially within the context of identity. Through these portraits, we confront the invisible labor — gestures, textures, and traces left by those who have been out of the pictures, or those who exist on the periphery but whose presence marks the fabric of the work. Portrait-algae, portrait-dress, portrait of euphoria flowing organically, evoking a body that lacks a place of belonging. Silent but unwavering.