Reframing history

Former National Emerging Art Prize finalist Sid Pattni paints his own version of the colonial experience.

- Words HARRY ROBERTS

AMONG THE SEA OF FACES that loomed large in this year’s Archibald Prize, Sid Pattni’s self-portrait stood out for what it withheld. “I leaned into the tropes of historical portraiture but stripped away my face, retaining only the eyes and garments,” says the Melbourne-based Indian-Australian artist, whose void-like absence — wrapped in colonial regalia and framed by a floral border with hand-beaded appliqué — makes us look instead for markers of identity in these other, culturally loaded, embellishments.