Nicky Bird

Nicky Bird is an artist whose work considers contemporary relevances of found photographs and latent histories of specific sites, investigating how they remain resonant. Her work incorporates new photography with oral histories and collaborations with people who have significant connections to the original site and its photographic archive.

Dressed to Paint is a series of seven large-scale paintings based on publicity stills of Hollywood film stars in character. For each work, the artist constructed costumes and staged herself as the subject, concealing her face behind a mask derived from an iconic image of the actor portrayed. A second photographic process documented the artist in costume while painting, creating layered representations that combine performer, painter, reflection and finished artwork. The original paintings remain in private collections.