Nicole and Karyn

This painting was first exhibited in 2017, on an exhibition entitled Being Human at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg.

It is part of a series of portraits that demonstrate Gourlay-Conyngham’s interest in depicting people in a decontextualised setting. A restricted colour palette, in which white predominates, probes the allegorical role her subjects take on and the white nightdresses allude to their perceived liminal status as children with albinism.

Gourlay-Conyngham’s technical skill makes the painting almost indistinguishable from a photograph, which in turn makes the allegorical qualities of the work, and its decontextualised background, all the more unsettling. 

Artwork courtesy of the Artist.