Non-portraits (Julie Rrap)

Rrap has exhibited widely in Australia and in 2007 had a solo survey show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, an exhibition accompanied by a substantial monograph by Victoria Lynn. This exhibition traces a trajectory through her practice in which sculpture, photography and video unite to take apart any traditional notion of self portraiture and replace it with a much more insightful analysis of the relationship between our body and sense of self.

These two works are from a large series of portraits which emulate the pose of that most famous portrait, the 'Mona Lisa'. Rrap treats the 'Mona Lisa' as a found image which she then reworks with images of her friends, family and other artists or in this case with some poignancy, herself and her then lover. In keeping with concurrent appropriation practices, Rrap has used a famous icon of art history with something of Duchamp’s attitude to found objects. This found
image resonates with both the mystery and over familiarity of the original, and yet something of its aura survives this process and helps to make these compelling portraits.