Justin 2021

Curator: What a striking image! I find myself immediately drawn into the rich textures and the boldness of the colour. Editor: And the scale! This is "Justin," Monica Ikegwu's acrylic on canvas portrait, made in 2021. Ikegwu captures the sitter head and shoulders against a purple monochrome backdrop with great verisimilitude, yet she somehow also monumentalizes Justin. He feels like an icon for our times. Curator: Absolutely. The choice of purple is very deliberate. It has long been associated with royalty and power but also with spirituality and the blurring of gender norms. It infuses the portrait with a sense of significance and mystique that seems very knowing. Editor: Indeed. Looking closer, notice how the carefully placed hoodie-- with it's own contrasting and almost jarring light/dark juxtaposition-- frames his face and draws our eye. The subject's gaze is direct. He seems incredibly self-aware, confident. What might Ikegwu be saying about modern identity, perhaps? Curator: There's definitely a story being told through the contemporary fashion and the almost photographic realism of the face. The hoodie, the earbud; these are symbols of modern youth culture, yet painted with such meticulous detail they become almost totemic. The image also speaks to self-portraiture, the projection of identity for social media consumption...a desire to be seen, understood. Editor: Which leads to another important point about its creation. A painting, rather than a photograph, inherently lends a level of artistic interpretation, agency, even subversion. Monica Ikegwu chooses to immortalize her subject in this traditional medium. I'm intrigued by that conscious blending of classical portraiture with hyper-modern style and attitude. It elevates popular and, often, fleeting forms of expression, such as fashion itself. Curator: So well said! And to consider Justin within the tradition of portraiture throughout history opens the image up even further to notions of class, race, representation… who gets remembered and how. Editor: Ultimately, it becomes more than just a portrait; it’s a statement. Curator: Exactly. "Justin" encourages us to contemplate the symbols we use to communicate our identities and the enduring power of portraiture as a cultural record.