Carla, Portrait of Charles and Captain John Sealy, 2014

Inspired by Tilly Kettle, Portrait of Charles and Captain John Sealy, 1773.

I chose this work because the background reminded me of my home country, Bolivia and how hot the weather is. The two brothers in the portrait reminded me also of my brother and me. We have a good relationship but sometimes we don’t really talk either; he will talk to me when he needs something. He is two years younger than me and I feel like he needs me a lot. Most of the time, I do quite a lot of things for him.

The main idea I wanted to show in my photograph is the support I give my brother. Firstly I worked on the idea of hanging up his clothes and I took a few pictures. Then I did different types of impressions of hanging up his clothes. In the final piece, I’m wrapping up his clothes with some string and hanging it up along my own clothes, which I’ve photographed and also videoed to play with shadows. The hanging line symbolises the support I give my brother and the clothes wrapped in string also show the constant support I provide.

Inspired by:

Tilly Kettle, Portrait of Charles and Captain John Sealy, 1773.

Tilly Kettle, Portrait of Charles and Captain John Sealy, 1773

This portrait was painted in Calcutta in 1773, where Charles (on the left) was Registrar of the Mayor’s Court. His brother John was Captain of the Northington (a ship trading with the East Indies). Tilly Kettle was the first professional British artist to establish himself in India. Despite the distant palm trees, the pose and format of the portrait follow a tradition developed to show English gentlemen in their landed estates.