Catherine Molineux

The word “portrait” derives from the Latin portrahere, meaning “to drag out, reveal,
expose.” To stand in front of a historical portrait—to confront the captured human
gaze—is to collapse the distance (geographic, temporal, cultural) between yourself
and the subject. Such encounters bring past human experiences to mingle amongst
yours, enabling unexpected forms of identification, of making “likeness,” and
exposing the expectations and assumptions that often silently frame our sight of
others.