For his portrait of singer, songwriter and actor Jessica Mauboy (b. 1989), David Rosetzky wanted to capture her energy, optimism and authenticity using a double exposure image. 'We talked about this idea of chaos and stillness and how she manages to stay quite centred within herself despite the crazy lifestyle … so with one of the layers of the images, she'd be quite still and looking directly at the camera and then with one of the other layers, she was doing more movement.' Mauboy enjoyed the collaborative nature of the sitting, as she recalled: 'just having a bit of a play, having a bit of movement, really creating those layers of personality … being strong, being loving to yourself and kind, but also being wild.'
Mauboy is a descendant of the KuKu Yalanji nation of Far North Queensland. In 2006, at the age of 16, she captured national attention as the runner-up on the television program Australian Idol. Since then, she has achieved music sales over 3.3 million units, five top 10 albums, 15 top 20 singles, four platinum selling albums and two ARIA Music Awards. She has also appeared in the films Bran Nue Dae (2009) and The Sapphires (2012). In 2015 she became an ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, and in 2018 she was named an Australian tourism ambassador and represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Commissioned with funds provided by Sony Music Entertainment Australia 2018
© David Rosetzky
This is a black and white photographic portrait of Kuku Yalanji nation descendent, performer Jessica Mauboy created by David Rozetzky in 2018.
It is 106cm high and 150cm wide, encased a two and a half centimetre black frame.
The background is black and the portrait is glass-covered which creates a cool, reflective surface, the black has a matt quality, appearing soft and velvet-like.
Occupying the centre of the picture, Jessica Mauboy is captured from the top of her head to upper thigh. She is standing turned to the right, her left shoulder to us. She wears an unusual shawl-like, cropped jacket that suggests movement, like she has just this moment stopped dancing and turned her direct gaze to the viewer.
Jessica is a startlingly attractive young woman; her long hair has blonde highlights and falls past her shoulders in a textured mane. Her centre-parted hair covers some of her high, wide forehead, fanning out onto her shoulders to frame her face. Her arresting, unflinching gaze leaps out of the portrait from dark, rounded eyes beneath thick, sculpted eyebrows. She has full, closed lips, flawless cheeks and a rounded chin.
Jessica’s long hair ends at her breast, she wears a low-cut black dress with a tight little frill along the v of her cleavage.
Her deconstructed shrug sits across her upper arms and shoulders. Thick, woven, beaded strands form a riot of uneven, messy tangled lines, hanging off her left shoulder and down her arm, over the bunched sleeve of her dress that ends at her elbow. The shrug is structured around her neck, short and curved along the line of her breast. Collectively the beaded strands sparkle white against the blacks and greys of the rest of the layered photograph.
The photographer has chosen to add to the impression of recent movement in the picture as there is a figure beside her, separating from her torso, bursting out behind her. Also Jessica, with her body arched backwards, her long hair swaying down her back, nose to the sky with eyes closed as though dancing and absorbed in an internal world. It’s a blurry image, captured mid-motion. The beads on the second figure’s shrug are just a blur, light, loose smudges of hair and tassels descending in different directions.
Audio description written by Meredith Hughes and voiced by Carol Wellman Kelly
Sony Music Entertainment Australia (1 portrait supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.
Singer, songwriter and actress Jessica Mauboy with artist David Rosetzky.
