Maddison Kay
Subject to Reinterpretation, 2026
Chalk pastel, acrylic paint, acrylic ink on 16 sheets of tan paper
25cm x 33cm each
Artist statement
Subject to Reinterpretation explores the transformation of brief, community-based encounters into publicly presented objects.
During weekly online meetings, participants took turns posing for the duration of one song, capturing impressions in under four minutes. This created an intuitive mark making process within an organically formed online community.
These portrait drawings were later translated into screenprints, reinterpreting sitters through a subjective record of the original encounter. Through repeated reproduction and manual intervention, the images become increasingly removed from the original subjects and private context in which they were made. This work considers how a fleeting interaction can be altered through the repeated process of reproduction and reinterpretation.
Photographs: Anna Kucera
Acknowledgement of Country
UNSW School of Art & Design stands on an important place of learning and exchange first occupied by the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples.
We acknowledge the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land that our students and staff share, create and operate on. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend this respect to all First Nations peoples across Australia. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
