THE CINEMA PORTRAITS
PORTRAITS LIT ONLY BY THE LIGHT OF THE SCREEN
"Thank you thank you for the beautiful portrait with your magical hands. I love it. It's so of the moment and captures such an expression of happiness and wonder at true art - Very meta!'
- CAROLINE ISSA
RAISING MONEY FOR EAST ANGLIAN CHILDREN’S HOSPICES (EACH)
“We’re absolutely thrilled and very excited to have been approached by Nina. She’s incredibly talented and her body of work, and attention to detail, is truly breath-taking. That’s what makes this such an incredible opportunity for anyone keen to commission one of her portraits. They will be receiving something very special, personal and unique while at the same time generating vital income, helping us support families and care for children and young people with life-threatening conditions.”
KEVIN CLEMENTS, EACH Director of Fundraising and Communications
“Nina has created a perfect situation in which one can lose oneself in a favourite film and therefore become an open, engaged and yet relaxed subject. As someone who works in the medium of film it felt like a perfect triangulation for connection. Nina watching me watch a film.”
- JUDE LAW
LUMINARY DRAWINGS
“Nina sent me a book on her work, and I was blown away. She explained her technique and how she worked to enable people to sit still for the session. In my case, she wanted me to watch the first film I ever saw. I think it worked out.”
RIDLEY SCOTT ON ‘LUMINARY DRAWINGS’
Installation view of Luminary Drawings, 2019
National Portrait Gallery
Fowler’s work investigates fame, desire and our relationship with cinema epitomised by her major commission by the National Portrait Gallery to produce a series of ‘Luminary Drawings’, portrait drawings in pencil and charcoal of nine of the UK’s leading film directors watching a film of importance to them. Individuals selected for this project include Ridley Scott, Sally Potter, Sam Mendes, Ken Loach and Amma Asante MBE and their portraits now hang in the National Portrait Gallery.
“Since completing the series of portraits of British Film Directors for The National Portrait Gallery (London, 2019) I have been asked to carry out similar commissions of people watching films of great importance to them. The drawings are created using the same process I developed for the museum project - setting up a transportable cinema environment and lighting the sitter only by the luminance of the screen, so they are immersed in the film of their choosing.”
— Nina Mae Fowler
