“WHEN IS NOW?”

“WHEN IS NOW?” A human project

I started this portrait archive at the end of 2019.
A new decade, and world events were feeling very precarious. How would these events, both local and global, personal and political, unfold over the next 10 years?
What role would we, as individuals, play in all these things – past, present and future?

I decided to paint portraits and record conversations with a wide range of sitters,
all of whom have some involvement in the events of that moment, of “Now”.
Who are they? What are they doing? How do they see the future?
These intimate conversations won’t be revealed in full until 2030,
but please explore all the fascinating people I have talked to below.

Drawing our present, our ‘now’, and watching it become our past.

Portraits

About “WHEN IS NOW?”

Drawing someone is a very intimate and contemplative process, both for the sitter and for the artist. Quiet conversation during the drawing process can illuminate so much more about the sitter than just a drawing ever can.

As the project goes on, the portraits and conversations from the early stages will already be part of the past.

I want this to document, in the best sense of the word, the realities of individuals, their joys and their concerns, big and small. The documentation will evolve with time. I will endeavour to choose a wide range of sitters, some known to me, and some not, all with an interesting perspective on their “Now”. Each person’s testimony will be forever tied to their painted portraits, to be fully shared as a body of work in 2030. Woven into the fabric of the project are little notes recording the world events at that particular time, for context.

So much has happened since I began this archive. Alongside the twists and turns of politics, there are things which could never have been foreseen, such as April 2020 – Coronavirus, February 2022 – Russian invasion of Ukraine, and January 2024 – Donald Trump begins a second term as US President.

Please look back through the posts to see previous stories.