Recent developments in portraiture: what does it mean to bring a portrait to life?

I give a brief history of my art practice,which explores past, present and possible future techniques to, in some sense, bring portraits ‘to life’.I set out and discuss the work of artists who have influenced my thinking and practice and others who are simply working along related lines. In particular I examine developments in ‘augmented reality’ and give an account of the current state of this field both in general and as utilised by contemporary artists. I explain how I learnt this new technology and describe how I used it to enhance my art/photography practice in order to produce more interesting and novel kinds of portraiture with it. I discuss the decision-making behind the making and curating of the final pieces of artwork for my MA exhibition. To conclude I discuss both the viewer’s engagement with my work and to what extent the work realised my vision and intentions for it. By using new technologies am I limiting access to a privileged audience only? Did I find a meaningful and aesthetically satisfying solution to ‘bringing a portrait to life’?