Honorable Mention / 2024 / Portraiture / Personality

Barbie X-treme

Generation X are characterised as the “loneli­est gen­er­a­tion,” because spending so much of their time online has left many feeling isolated and depressed.
This portrait explores those feelings, along with other aspects that characterise Gen X - their love of nostalgia (Barbie and roller skates), "dopamine dressing" in bright colours to lift (or appear to lift) mood, and the quirkiness required to stand out in an endless stream of social media images.

My cat wasn't meant to be in the shoot, but I think she was drawn to the model to console her, picking up on her emotional state.