18th century Mexican portraits, mental illness and identity are Natalie’s focus.
Natalie Doonan (MFA ’08) is a Canadian artist of French and Irish descent, and although she has never been to Ireland, she spent two days in Paris during a stint as a flight attendant some years back.
“I’m interested in identity-formation and the compression of identity of both the subject and the artist, within the making of a portrait,” she says, “at the heart of identity-formation are issues of control, power, and independence.”
A condensed history of explorations around this concept can be viewed at her website below. The tension between artist and subject, created by these forces, was a primary concern in her series like “In a Word” and “Keepsake”. Natalie’s sources of inspiration include Fiona Tan, Donigan Cumming, Andrew Miksys, Kelly Mark, and Ian Wallace.
Her current work is a re-examination of Casta Painting, a genre of 18th century portraiture originating mainly in Mexico. Natalie has lived and worked in Mexico for the last two years, where she first encountered these images that captivated her. Each of the portraits depicts a mother, father, and one or two children, along with a caption describing the lineage of each. These are the starting point for Natalie’s new work, in which the roles of globalization, migration and post-colonialism are explored in reference to the molding of one’s identity. She is also interested in the art historical depiction of madness. Also in progress is a series of portraits taken in an Alzheimers’ home, which she is digitally or manually remastering.
Natalie anticipates her classes to begin: “I am looking forward to my studies at UBC, and to meeting my future instructors and colleagues.”
