Second Look  - : Portraiture in Stone and Light" explores portraiture by examining how human likeness and presence are captured across mediums.

 

Through photographs of classical busts from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s collection, this project creates a dialogue between sculpture and photography, revealing how interpretation layers over time—from the sculptor’s original vision to its contemporary photographic reimagination. In keeping with my practice of grounding projects in research, I have drawn upon Richard Brilliant’s seminal work Portraiture, which argues that portraits are not merely representations but active negotiations between how individuals wish to be seen and how artists choose to depict them. Brilliant suggests that every portrait contains multiple identities: the subject’s self-image, the artist’s interpretation, and the viewer’s perception.

 

These ideas shape my engagement with the MFA’s sculptural portraits, as my photographs recontextualize and reinterpret these historic works. Through this lens, Second Look investigates not just how we see others, but how artistic interpretation—across time and medium—transforms representation itself.

​

My interpretive photographic technique emphasizes what I perceive as the symbolic representations of ideas and personalities embodied in these sculptures. Through fine art photographic methods, I engage with multiple layers of portraiture: the relationship between subject and sculptor, the sculptor's artistic choices, my interpretation as a visual artist, and ultimately, the viewer's experience of these photographic portraits of sculptural portraits.

• The original subject of the bust.

• The sculptor’s artistic choices in representing the subject.

• The static gaze of the bust within the museum.

• The viewers engaging with the bust in its gallery setting.

• My photographic interpretation of the busts.

​

This layering is exemplified in the opening photograph of the series, which shows artists sketching busts in an ancient Roman gallery, reinforcing the concept of infinite reflection and interpretation.​

​

At its core, this project is a visual and artistic exploration of the meaning of portraiture. As a visual artist, I use photography not merely as a tool of documentation but as a medium of interpretation, creating images that reimagine the sculptural busts in new and evocative ways. By engaging with these works, I aim to reflect on the enduring power of portraiture to capture identity, emotion, and meaning across time and mediums, inviting viewers into a layered conversation that transcends boundaries of form and era.