Ancestors

Ancestors is a series of fictional portraits created by hand applying silicone sealant to paper. Working within the loose conventions of head-and-shoulders portraiture, individual deposits of silicone form peaks, loops and trailing marks as the nozzle is lifted from the surface. Through a process related to automatic drawing, the marks accumulate into suggestions of facial features and hair, gradually giving rise to distinct characters. Presented within oval mounts, the portraits evoke unknown ancestors, somewhere between traditional portraiture and Rorschach inkblot tests.