Lockdown Self-Portrait

This painting was a finalist in the 2021 Tatiana Art Prize, it encapsulates my time at home during isolation. In this image I am seated, my face stares down at my iPhone. The handmade mask my friend made me is on my face. This image was captured and painted in my home where I worked and cared for my foster daughter. It was always the little things I looked for to brighten my days spent at home; time painting, enjoying a hot drink and fresh flowers. Despite being in lockdown with my daughter, I felt very alone and heavily disconnected from the world. I spent too much time on my iPhone, and yet I also had to constantly remind myself to use my phone to reach out to others.

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Alanah Ellen Brand (she/her) (b. 1991, Australia) is a contemporary portrait painter working on Dja Dja Wurrung country (Bendigo, Victoria). Brand obtained her Masters in Visual Art (2019) from Latrobe University Bendigo. Brand has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize, Kennedy Prize, the 12th Prospect Portrait Prize, The Bluethumb Art Prize, The Tatiara Art Prize, The Percivals and a Semi-Finalist in The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Brand has attended Art schools/workshops with renowned painters David Kassan, Shana Levenson, Robin Eley, Jessica Le Clec and Solomon Kammer who became Brand’s mentor and the subject of her 2023 Archibald Prize entry.