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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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Self portrait on washcloth, 2024

Nena Salobir

Darling Portrait Prize 2024 Art Handlers' Award

mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner, foundation, lipstick on cotton muslin (frame: 35cm x 36.5cm depth 3cm)

Nena Salobir
born Malaysia 1986, Australia from 1992

Self portrait on washcloth 2024
mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner, foundation and lipstick on cotton muslin

Self portrait on washcloth is an intimate portrait created by pressing a “painted face” onto a commonplace cotton medium. This artwork acknowledges the self portraits so many of us paint, day in and day out, only for them to wash down the sink. In capturing traces of these acts, I recall the gentle repose of a Victorian death mask. The face is the ultimate canvas on which our innermost desires, identities, neuroses and vanities can be variously portrayed, and betrayed. This piece was created in the early hours of
New Year’s Day 2024, perfectly bottling feelings of longing, anticipation, disappointment, insecurity and hope.’

Based on Whadjuk Noongar Country in Boorloo/Perth and Gadigal Land in Sydney, Nena Salobir is a conceptual artist specialising in portraiture. Her long-running project Self portrait in society is a cumulative artwork consisting of portraits she draws while her subjects draw her at the same time.


© The artist

Darling Portrait Prize 2024

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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