Double Portrait Mural by Nikki T in London

Here are two large scale portraits that I painted in Vietnam in 2019. Inspired by striking black and white portrait photographs, I wanted to transfer them to a larger scale as a combined mural. This aesthetic is typical to my portrait style paintings where I create a striking contrast of black and white images painted against a vibrant, patterned background. Although this has been a style that I have been painting for many years now, it transfers well in context to Vietnamese portraiture as it is very similar to the patterns worn and used in the various ethnic tribes in Vietnam. The project was a truly exciting one. I took this project on and executed it alone from beginning to end. I wanted to paint something that represented Vietnam and chose to paint these portraits and fill the space behind with striking colour and detailed pattern. I painted the entire wall with paintbrushes and so this took me a really long time to execute but helped bring out the fine detail in the painting, bringing a whole new dynamic and depth to the portraits.