Recent events have pushed artists to visualize ideas of closeness in a new light. "Kinship", published on the occasion of the National Portrait Gallery's next "Portraiture Now" exhibition, features the work of eight leading contemporary artists who explore familial relationships through photography, painting, sculpture and performance.
Contemporary portraiture offers a way to consider the mutable yet enduring qualities of familial relationships and the internal and external forces that affect our bonds with others. For example, interpretations of distance - whether emotional, physical, or geographical - have recently become more fraught. By recognizing the transformations that occur in the genre of portraiture and the threads that today's portraits share, we can better understand the universality and specificity of kinship.ARTISTSNjideka Akunyili Crosby (b. 1983), painting | Ruth Leonela Buentello (b. 1984), painting | Jess T. Dugan (b. 1986), photography | LaToya Ruby Frazier (b. 1982), photography and video | Jessica Todd Harper (b. 1975), photography | Thomas Holton (b. 1969),photography | Sedrick Huckaby (b. 1975), painting and sculpture | Anna Tsouhlarakis (b. 1977), performance
