Persona 2020
MCHUGH, Aylsa
Registration number
1801201
Artist/maker
MCHUGH, Aylsa
Title
Persona
Production date
2020
Medium
digital print
Dimensions (H x W x D)
38.33 x 150 cm (unframed); 46.8 x 1580.5 x 4 cm (framed)
Credit line
Purchased 2021
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
© Courtesy of the artist
Keywords
Summary
In 2020, the City of Melbourne partnered with the Hero Apartment Building Owners Corporation to present a series of billboard-scale public art commissions on the facade of the iconic building in Russell Street, Melbourne. Aylsa McHugh’s artwork, Persona was selected for the inaugural commission in 2020. This re-scaled version was subsequently acquired by the Art and Heritage Collection in 2021.
The photograph uses vintage portraits of hair models, inventively collaged with pictures of sculptures from the modernist period. In these playful images, the sculptures have been shrunk and employed as a form of decorative adornment on each model’s face. With this work, McHugh examines our tendency to find connections and seek a certain solace in seeing order where none exists.