Portraiture is one of the oldest and most enduring artistic practices, yet it remains endlessly redefined. In this special edition of Collect Art Magazine, Volume 90, we turn our attention to Portraits—not as a fixed genre, but as a living, evolving language through which artists explore identity, presence, memory, and the human condition. Across cultures and centuries, portraits have served as records of power, intimacy, resistance, and self-reflection. Today, they continue

Daye Kim is a contemporary jewellery artist and sculptor based in London. She holds an MA in Jewellery & Metal from the Royal College of Art (2024) and a BA in Metalwork & Textiles from Korea. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including as a SCHMUCK 2024 finalist and in the Hunt Museum's Open Submission Exhibition (Ireland, 2024). Daye's practice combines traditional metalworking with digital fabrication processes, including ZBrush modelling and resin casting. She

Wurm is an artist, educator, and curator engaged in expanding the community forum for contemporary art dialogue. Having lived in California, where she received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Europe, where she received an M.A.R.C.A. from the Royal College of Art in London, Jan Wurm has honed an eye for social patterns and conventions. She currently divides her time between Berkeley and L.A. and her hand between drawing and painting. As an artist, Wu

E.B. is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. He began painting three years ago, at the age of 31, using art as a means of survival, inquiry, and transformation. His practice explores how visual language communicates with the soul, revealing truths that cannot be spoken aloud. Drawing from personal experiences of trauma, identity, displacement, and healing, his work sits between the psychological and the symbolic. Through painting, digital work, and mixed media, E.B. co

‘’Making art seems to be a reaction to my being in this temporary human visit we all experience. It began with the impulse to make things, chairs, tables, even a small boat. I ran out of functional objects to make, and at my brother's suggestion, began to paint and make art. I was free of the functional objects, and, unknown to me at the time, I began an inner journey with endless possibilities. This practice continues to this very day. There is a never-ending joy in the proc

Born in 1999 and raised in Bacau, Romania, Laura Candet is currently exploring the alarming increase in femicide in Romania and around the world. Experiencing the gender gap firsthand, her visual art conveys the frustration and powerful emotions felt during these turbulent times. With significant achievements in the artistic and academic fields, Laura Candet combines theoretical and practical study for a good artistic representation of her subjects. The artist has won multipl

Bahar Talebi Najafabadi is a visual artist from Isfahan, Iran, now based in London since 2023. She uses different methods to create her artwork, including charcoal, chalk, and oil painting. Bahar's artistic practice is defined by exploration; she embraces a diverse approach to express her emotions through oil paint. Her work reflects the transmission of human feeling, using colour, style, and pattern as essential means of communication with viewers. Currently, Bahar focuses on t

Elice is a visual artist from South Korea, currently based in London. She creates portraits of people with whom she has personal connections. Her practice primarily involves pencil and coloured pencils, with occasional use of watercolours or markers. When she first began making portraits, Elice often depicted strangers, including celebrities or people she encountered on the street. Over time, she began to reflect on whether portraying individuals she had personally met and fo

Nadia Kissel’s artistic journey began in Russia, where she trained from the age of fourteen at the Ryazan College of Art and later at the Leningrad Academy. Grounded in the classical traditions of drawing and composition, her practice has since evolved across cultures and continents. A move to Kenya marked a transformative chapter, immersing her in the vibrant textures of African life and expanding her visual language through bold colour and dynamic contrasts. Later, in the U