(de)facing is a series of mixed media portraits created by working into printed photographs with painting and drawing processes.
These works begin with a printed photograph. The image is then disrupted through literal acts of defacing—sanding, scratching, painting over—a series of interventions that ask: what relations might be enacted through facing the world differently? What happens when the normativity of eye contact is disrupted? What other forms of power-with rather than power-over might occur in the relationship of beholding?
The series began with a self-portrait, expanding into portrait-dialogues with colleagues and collaborators, starting with Bayo Akomolafe.
This is an ongoing series (2025—).
mixed media on paper
all works 8”x10”
inquiries and prints: studio.kristadragomer@gmail.com