World May 14, 2026 · 1 min read

‘We can all coexist’: artist Es Devlin uses selfies to unite UK in portrait of a nation

A National Portrait for the National Portrait Gallery aims to bring people together in increasingly atomised countryCan a collective portrait of Britain hold together a country that feels as if it is splintering apart? That is the quietly radical hope behind Es Devlin’s new installation at the Natio...

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The Guardian
by Amelia Hill
‘We can all coexist’: artist Es Devlin uses selfies to unite UK in portrait of a nation

A National Portrait for the National Portrait Gallery aims to bring people together in increasingly atomised country

Can a collective portrait of Britain hold together a country that feels as if it is splintering apart? That is the quietly radical hope behind Es Devlin’s new installation at the National Portrait Gallery: a living portrait comprised not of monarchs, politicians or celebrities but of thousands of ordinary faces drifting slowly into and out of one another.

Created in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture Lab, A National Portrait for the National Portrait Gallery invites people across the UK to upload a selfie, which is then transformed into a portrait rendered in Devlin’s smoky charcoal-and-chalk style before joining a constantly evolving and revolving carousel of portraits projected on to a framed screen.

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This article was originally published by The Guardian and written by Amelia Hill.

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