Mobile Portrait Studio, 2010 – present
Mobile Portrait Studio from lara stein pardo on Vimeo.
Project Statement
The Mobile Portrait Studio considers the role of portraiture, photography, performance, and public spaces in relationship to art-making, memory, and historical narratives. This project draws on traditions of portrait photography combined with contemporary understandings of art in the public sphere and performance. I set up the Mobile Portrait Studio with a camera, a mobile mini printer, and lighting. Then, I ask passersby to participate in the project by having their portrait taken. Participants receive a free print within minutes of sitting (or standing, as the case may be) for the portrait. The portraits are given to participants and also preserved digitally as part of a larger series of photographs. Through the acts of portraiture, narrative, and engagement in public spaces I hope to document our contemporary moment as well as create moments for interaction with the arts and each other.
So far this project has been completed in four locations: during Art Basel/Art Fair Week in Miami outside the Rubell Collection in Wynwood, Florida, and inside the Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, as well as in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago along Ariapita Avenue and at Alice Yard, a collective contemporary art space.
Mobile Portrait Studio, locations and events
Port of Spain, Trinidad
January 11, 2011, 4 – 6 PM – Portraits along Ariapita Avenue
January 14, 2011, 7:30 PM – Portraits and Screening at Alice Yard
The Mobile Portrait Studio, Trinidad edition, is a collaboration between Lara Stein Pardo and Rodell Warner, a Trinidadian photographer. Portraits were taken along a busy street in Woodbrook, Ariapita Avenue as well as in the collaborative contemporary art space, Alice Yard. Building on the first iteration of the Mobile Portrait Studio, the location and collaborative efforts shift the meaning of the project from documenting and understanding one locality to creating public and performance-based works in multiple locations that considers people, public spaces, performance, and personal interaction in relation to the role of portraiture, art-making, memory, and historical narratives.
Art Basel/Art Fair Week Edition
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Two Sessions, Two Locations
9:30 AM – 11:00 AM – Wynwood (near the Rubell Collection)
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM – Miami Beach (near the Convention Center)
Lara Stein Pardo invites you to have your portrait taken at the Mobile Portrait Studio. Participants will receive a free print within minutes of sitting for the portrait. The photos will also be preserved digitally and become part of a larger series of photographs documenting Miami and the contemporary art world. This project considers the role of portraiture, photography, performance, and public spaces in relationship to art-making, memory, and historical narratives.