Vikram Divecha's 'Portrait Sessions'

Debra Levine, PhD '12 and Assistant Professor of Theater at NYU Abu Dhabi, just completed a year long project with the Dubai based art organization, Tashkeel. She was the mentor for  2015-2016 participant Vikram Divecha which culminated in his new project, 'Portrait Sessions.'

Divecha has invited a spectrum of self-identified ‘non-professional painters’ to become ‘the artist’ and to paint his portrait. The duration of each portrait session is determined by how much time AED 150 can buy according to each ‘artist’s’ professional rate, with Divecha’s experience of paying workers this amount as daily wage for 9 hours of work serving as the base unit of labor value for this venture. The underlying constant of the project is this question: How much standard professional time does AED 150 purchase from individuals working in the UAE, across professional and economic strata?

Every portrait created during the cumulative number of sessions will be displayed at Tashkeel Nad Al until October 13, 2016.