Face to Face, 2014
inkjet prints on 3mm perspex
90 sheets of 42 x 29.7 cm Face to Face is an installation from Mullens' Honours work, comprised of 90 portraits of the artist's mother's family printed on red perspex. Repurposed from a collection of photographs of the Nguyen family in Vietnam, Mullens has scanned the photographs at a high resolution, isolated each relative's face, enlarged them to larger-than-life-size, and printed them onto semi-opaque red perspex. The ink hides the redness, however it peeks out the edges and creates a faint glow around each piece. The work draws attention to each individual, where the viewer can choose to engage with singular faces, make connections between family members, and look for repeating characters as they grow older. Through this work Mullens sought out the narratives of the individual family members. Prior to creating this work Mullens could not identify each face, however on the completion of this work she now can name each person.
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