JESS LEE OF THE SEA

This series illustrates the subject with the names they give themselves on social media – self assigned alter egos. These names, previously exclusive to performers, now are used to take ownership over our identities and broadcast them. The Midnight Names portraits are of friends and people I am close with. I create intimacy in the work by working with shapes, colours and materials that I associate with the subject as well as experience in my day to day life, animating their alter ego through my gaze, the only one I know.

My portrait of Jess (@jessleeofthesea) is created in the shape of the Norman window, the frame in which I get to view the sea from my home. The sea to jess is a place that as an avid surfer and environmentalist, is home to her too.

The piece is created on layers of broken and salved fishing net. As a vow to her dedication to sustainability, this is only made with materials I already own, using my collection of wool, threads and fabrics as well as up-cycling old fishing nets sourced from the local harbour. Nothing has been bought to create this work.