Khoi Tuan Nguyen
Sydney Technical High School
Family Portrait
Painting
In my body of work, portrait paintings of my family members have been ‘head-swapped’ with some of Hollywood’s iconic film figures. My deep passion for feature films inspired me to explore how pop culture affects how we see people’s personalities and identities. I saw Maverick’s (Tom Cruise) confidence and playfulness in my father, and Maria’s (Julie Andrews) enthusiasm and kindness within my mother. My struggles with social dilemmas coincide with McClane’s (Bruce Willis) self-consciousness around other people. I took my family as my subject in order to immortalise the powerful connection that we have despite many hardships and challenges.