Today’s cover story in SEE Magazine is all about the National Portrait Gallery.

Traditionally portraiture was used exclusively by nobility to immortalize their legacy.

“Now everyone does a portrait whether it’s your Facebook profile or LinkedIn even Myspace,” Todd Janes, curator of Latitude 53 says, noting that technology has made portraiture more democratic. “If we look at PDAs (and) Android phones, people are utilizing that portraiture in different kinds of ways. In historical context that would represent your essence, now it might just be for that minute rather than your life time.”

Andrew Paul spoke with Todd Janes here at the gallery as well as artist-curators Fish Griwkowsky and Kristy Trinier about the importance of portraiture, the political imperatives of the project and a few of the works themselves.

Kristy Trinier also gives a more thorough explanation of the historical and aesthetic issues she hinted at in yesterday’s video. Check it out!