In the visual arts, portraits have always played an important role in the depiction and interpretation of people. They don’t just show the outward appearance of a person, but can also capture their personality, emotional state, social status, and cultural background.
Théodore Géricault’s
«Man with Delusions of Military Command» from the Oskar Reinhart Collection tells a tragic story without robbing the portrayed person of his dignity. At the same time, the painting breaks with the tradition of portraiture, which was intended to represent a person’s social status. The opposite happens here: the portrait captures the man’s identity loss, his withdrawal into a world of his own, where the self becomes an ephemeral and intangible entity.
Our cinematic portraits explore the self and its representation on the screen. The medium of film has numerous tools at its disposal for playing with aspects of representation and self-presentation. Light and colour are important factors that influence reception – just like in a painting. The variations and facets of human representation are endless, with self-presentation increasingly taking centre stage these days. The selected films offer multiple interpretations of each identity, several versions of a person’s self.
The word «portrait» comes from the Latin «protrahere», which means «to draw forth», «to bring out». This programme is about bringing out what lies hidden behind the façade and penetrating to some sort of «human essence». The cinematic frontal shot of a face inevitably creates intimacy. The camera’s gaze functions like an X-ray, exposing vulnerability – which can sometimes go too far and cause harm.
The experimental film «It Was Still Her Face» by Christoph Girardet uses a montage of film clips from Hollywood’s golden age to tell the eternal story of the adored yet absent woman. In «Kacey Mottet Klein, naissance d’un acteur», we witness the performance of a child actor who becomes a teenager in front of the camera. In «You Can’t Get What You Want But You Can Get Me», a series of photos and screenshots tells the story of Samira Elagoz and Z Walsh, two transmasculine artists who fall in love. In «From My Desert», a young investor in the depot of an unnamed airport goes into ecstasy over Cranach the Elder’s self-portrait, and not just because of the painting’s artistic value. In «Blue Boy», seven Romanian sex workers in Berlin are filmed head-on as they listen to recordings of their own experiences. «Sun Song» is a poetic journey from the darkness of early dawn into the brightness of the midday sun, portraying passengers on buses in Durham, North Carolina. In «Random White Dudes», members of the Mercury Prize-winning band Young Fathers ponder privilege and inequality in the style of a poetry slam, challenging the conventions of historical portraiture.
In these cinematic portraits, the camera plays an important role, sometimes crossing boundaries to capture people and their essence. While art has at times focused on the Other throughout history, the tendency has increased in recent years. Stories centre marginalized, disadvantaged, oppressed, and everyday people more frequently. On the one hand, this poses the danger of othering, on the other hand, it gives a voice to those who have long received little attention.
Curated by John Canciani and Ivana Frigo
