This Face, Here, Now: Moving Image Portaiture

Abstract

This article investigates the qualities of moving image portraiture that also illuminate the wider genre of photographic portraiture. The performance of portrait subjects over time brings attention to the triangulation of demand generated through the interaction of artist, subject and viewer. Serial and group moving image portraiture engages with the power of global culture industries by imbricating these regimes with individual expression and personal desire. The article considers work by Candice Breitz, Rineke Dijkstra, Feng Feng and Thomas Struth. This recent portraiture is framed by two reference points: Andy Warhol’s “Screen Tests” from the mid-1960s and a series of television station identifications that show the faces of viewers, the SBS Face IDs. The “Screen Tests” have been chosen as seminal works that continue to have significant impact on the genre. The SBS Face IDs, by contrast, have been selected as they operate at the limit of duration and subject presence.