We can all coexist': artist Es Devlin uses selfies to unite UK in portrait of a nation

"A National Portrait for the National Portrait Gallery invites people across the UK to upload a selfie, which is then transformed into a portrait rendered in Devlin's smoky charcoal-and-chalk style, before joining a constantly evolving and revolving carousel of portraits projected on to a framed screen. The effect is strangely intimate: faces hover briefly at the surface before slipping away again; strangers fold into strangers; features surface and dissolve. Watching it feels less like looking at images than catching fragments of people as they pass in a crowd."

"For Devlin, the work arrives at a moment when Britain feels increasingly atomised by political fury, algorithmic distraction and loneliness. I am in no way trying to erase the differences between us or suggesting that everyone can agree with each other, she said. But I'm hoping that if we can take the time to exist together in a non-verbal moment, perhaps we can accept that we can all coexist."

"The installation is deliberately imperfect: faces do not blend cleanly into one another, but snag and jar before separating again. There will be times in the collective portrait where one face merges into another and it looks terrible; where a beard meshes with a female face in a weird way before it resolves itself, Devlin said. But I find that aspect"

A living portrait installation invites people across the UK to upload selfies that are transformed into smoky charcoal-and-chalk portraits. The portraits join a constantly evolving carousel projected on a framed screen. Faces hover briefly, merge with others, and then slip away, creating an intimate experience of fragments passing in a crowd. The work is designed to feel nonverbal and to allow coexistence without requiring agreement. The blending is intentionally imperfect, with faces sometimes snagging, jarring, or temporarily forming awkward combinations before separating again. The installation responds to a climate of political fury, algorithmic distraction, and loneliness by emphasizing shared presence and coexistence.

Read at www.theguardian.com