Lost in Translation (Cricket Portraits)

In this body of work these Cricket players pose dressed in their traditional clothes but holding an incongruous, unidentifiable object. They are inspired on the very English Tudor portraits in which some symbolic objects were incorporated into the painting holding some clues related to the sitter.  These were understood only by a few – those intended for – but are incomprehensible for the contemporary viewer. Hence the title: Lost in Translation which refers to nuances and word plays that disappear when translating a text into another language which doesn’t allow for the same meanings or turns of phrase.

Here the faces are also blurred, so to see them and to decipher the objects, the viewer will have to get close, unable to make quick assumptions based on superficial information, and forced to pay individual attention.

This body of work questions the meaning and the value of being part of a closed group and by extension of a national identity, reinforcing the value of the individual.