We use portraits as objects of remembrance and reverence, of seduction and glorification. From the keepsakes in lockets as tiny remembrances of love, to the likenesses of leaders meant to inspire and seduce with their power. They can stir, and confront, and drive us to action. Just as they can lull in longing for a time since passed. They act as a mirror in whose reflection we find the inward experiences of ourselves, or as a window from which we look out toward the virtues of another. Our juror for the The Portrait is Leslie-Claire Spillman. A graduate in art from Xavier University with a focus in painting and photography, Leslie-Claire Spillman has worked as a gallerist, curator, and semi-professional photographer in New Orleans for over two decades. Her work has been featured both in print and group exhibitions in various venues throughout the city, private collections locally and nationwide, and is in the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art. She works exclusively in portraiture and is constantly inspired by the rich and vibrant culture of the city, and the beauty of its people, especially its magical creatives. "My work is primarily focused on black portraiture in New Orleans. I am drawn to emotive black subjects in moments of pure creative or energetic expression, but also quieter moments of rest, leisure, joy."
