Face is a face is a face is a face is a series of portraits of the artist’s mother painted repetitively. Each new painting is done so by only referring to the previous completed portrait and since it is impossible to replicate an identical painting each time, the unconscious misrepresentations of the original portrait became a filter for the creation of the next painting. Because of this condition, the painted portrait loses the resemblance of its subject matter over time. The title of the artwork, Face is a face is a face is a face, bears reference to the line, "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" by Gertrude Stein in her 1913 poem, Sacred Emily. The use of reference here is to lament on the fact that the name of a thing invokes, yet limits the imagery and emotions associated with it.
Portraits are faces made for remembrance but at the same time limits remembrance through resemblance. When death takes someone dear and near, it brings to question how one could remember beyond memorabilia through prefatory-mourning before death. The semblance and role of the portrait as a metonymy for the deceased draws reference to Susan Stewart’s The Souvenir theory. A portrait in the image of a person is limited by its realistic representation as it is unable to replace the real person but nonetheless, it is strongly charged as an object for the capacity to be used for varied motivations and desires since it will always stay incomplete.
