Life Lines brings together sixteen Oil and Acrylic portrait Paintings developed from a wider photographic project. Curated by Guerin Projects at The Bottle Factory, the exhibition explores the different directions a life can take and the experiences, choices and events that shape its course.
Over three years, LUAP photographed thirty people. Each sitter was asked to bring objects that held personal significance and to share the stories connected to them. Those objects and stories became the starting point for the portraits, grounding the project in lived experience rather than physical likeness alone.
LUAP photographed the sitters through fractured mirrors, using reflection to split, repeat and redirect parts of the image within the camera. Faces, hands and personal objects appear from different angles within the same frame. The resulting lines and shifts in perspective give visual form to the idea at the centre of Life Lines. A life rarely follows one straight route. Relationships, decisions, chance and events beyond our control can all change its direction.
The mirror also introduces a second layer around self-perception. As LUAP explains, “we don’t see the boundaries of the mirror”. Although the portraits are constructed from separate reflections, they still resolve as one person. The fragmentation echoes the way we can focus intensely on isolated aspects of ourselves while losing sight of the wider picture.
From the thirty photographic sittings, sixteen images were selected and developed into Oil and Acrylic Paintings on panel. Painting does not simply reproduce the source photograph. Closely observed faces, hands and objects sit alongside areas where the image shifts through colour, surface and more expressive marks, extending the structure of the Photography through paint.
The movement between Photography and Painting is central to the series. Photography captures the encounter with each sitter and brings their objects, stories and reflections together within a particular moment. Painting returns to that image over a much longer period, allowing details to be reconsidered, emphasised or loosened as the work develops.
The Pink Bear remains present throughout Life Lines, but no longer occupies its usual position at the centre of the image. The sitters and their stories come forward instead. In doing so, the series extends concerns around mental health and self-perception already present within LUAP’s practice towards the experiences of other people and the different routes their lives have taken.
The sixteen Paintings do not suggest that every turning point can be easily understood or resolved. Lives change direction. Experiences accumulate and intersect. Some remain with us long after the moment itself has passed. Life Lines brings those histories into the portrait without reducing a person to any single event or experience.
During the Private View, LUAP’s photographic portraits will be projected at large scale throughout The Bottle Factory, placing the source Photography alongside the Paintings developed from it. Nikon supports the exhibition and its photographic programme, with Nikon cameras and lenses used to create the portraits.
Curated by Guerin Projects, Life Lines runs at The Bottle Factory in London from 6 to 21 December 2024. The exhibition is supported by Alt Co Clique, Fabrix, Mind, Nikon Europe, Plexar and The Bottle Factory.
A percentage of exhibition sales will be donated to Mind, supporting its work in mental health. Responding to the exhibition, Mind described art as helping us understand “both our own experiences and those of others”.
“Nikon is delighted to support Life Lines, an inspiring exploration of self-discovery and transformation presented by LUAP. Through Nikon cameras and lenses, LUAP has created a set of portraits that beautifully capture profound emotional layers of mental well-being, inner strength, and openness. At Nikon, we believe in art's power to ask challenging questions, tell important stories and unite people through shared empathy. We are excited to partner alongside an artist who is so guided by and nurtures these essential principles.”
Julian Harvie, Marketing Director Nikon Northern Europe
“We’re very excited about LUAP’s upcoming exhibition. Exploring mental health issues through art is powerful and helps us to understand both our own experiences, and those of others. We want to give a big thank you to LUAP for supporting Mind by donating a percentage of the exhibition’s sales. LUAP’s support will help us to continue to be there for the people who need us and ensure that no one faces a mental health problem alone.”
Kathleen Miles, Executive Director of Fundraising Income at Mind
