"In our lives we can play and be seen as many roles: parent, child, sibling, colleague, the workplace newbie, leader, lover, anarchist, healer… the list goes on.
When actor Sisi Stringer met me for a sitting I found myself not only taking in her physical appearance to paint her portrait, but also taking in her character. I knew Sisi from acting school (we were in different years) and I kept thinking back to the acting exercises learned there: explorations of all those ‘roles’ human beings play, subconsciously or not, during their lives, and all those idiosyncratic traits that create a personality.
This portrait speaks to my interests in the concept of self and links back to those associations of acting school. With the abstract figure over her shoulder, it alludes to the experience of the artist seeking the soul behind the person behind the actor, Sisi Stringer.
In a broader sense, this work reminds me to check in with myself and ascertain where I’m performing and where my soul begins: and to be aware of when I’m performing for fun (playing “dress ups” as it were) and when I might be engaging in self-betrayal. I wonder when others are doing the same, and to try to connect with the soul at the core of the person that will constantly be there even when our roles, and chapters of life, change."
- Cynthia Howard