THE OUTWIN

The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today presents 42 portraits selected through an open call that garnered more than 2,700 entries from artists working across the United States and Puerto Rico. The artists responded with works that engage contemporary society, many providing new insights into the unprecedented reality we have experienced in the time surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The selected finalists create artworks in a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, textiles, video, and performance. They demonstrate how capacious and changing the genre of portraiture can be, and illuminate the genre’s power to make visible a multitude of life experiences.

On view at NPG April 30, 2022 – February 26, 2023

2022

Prize Winners

Oil painting portrait depicting a man cutting a woman's hair while both are looking into a mirror

First Prize

Alison Elizabeth Taylor

Anthony Cuts under the Williamsburg Bridge, Morning

Marquetry hybrid (wood veneers, oil paint, acrylic paint, inkjet prints, shellac, and sawdust on wood), 2020

Textile portrait of a woman wearing a flowing dress

People's Choice Awardee

Elsa María Meléndez

Milk

Canvas with silkscreen, embroidery, ink, and other textiles, 2020

Portrait of a Native American woman in colorful clothing

Second Prize

Tom Jones

Elizah Leonard

Inkjet print with beads, rhinestones, and shells, 2019

Black and white portrait photo of a man sitting on a stool

Third Prize

Poa Houa Her

untitled (man)

Inkjet print, 2019

Black and white portrait and poem about the Great Depression.

Commended

Joel Daniel Phillips & Quraysh Ali Lansana

Killed Negative #13 / After Arthur Rothstein

Charcoal, graphite, and ink on paper, 2020

Commended

Stuart Robertson

Self-Portrait of the Artist

Aluminum, earth, acrylic paint, enamel, paper, metallic bubble wrap, sequins, and gold foil on wood, 2020

Oil painting of an elderly couple standing with one arm around each other in front of a bed sheet.

Commended

Vincent Valdez

People of the Sun (Grandma and Grandpa Santana)

Oil on canvas, 2019

Commended

Elsa María Meléndez

Milk

Canvas with silkscreen, embroidery, ink, and other textiles, 2020

Finalists

Holly Bass

American Woman

Performance (approx. 7 hours) and digital video with sound (16:19 min.), 2021

Woman kneeling with her hands pressed to the floor.

Lois Bielefeld

Thank you Jesus, for what you are going to do

Digital video with sound (19:53 min.), 2020

Man on his back on the ground, seemingly in shock or pain.

Gustave Blanche III

Travis (After the Fall)

Oil on wood, 31.8 x 53.3 cm (12 x 21 in.), 2019

Rebecca Blandón

Glen Eden

Digital video with sound (14:28 min.), 2020

Twin girls in black standing in the New Mexico desert.

Frank Blázquez

The Gallegos Twins from Belen, NM

Inkjet print, 2019

A woman peeking through a patterned window.

Clarissa Bonet

Glimpse

Inkjet print, 2019

Portrait of a grey-haired woman composed entirely of fabric and sewing supplies.

Donna Castellanos

Bertha, I’d like to know where you got the notion

Fabric, zippers, pin cushions, snaps, paper packaging, knitting needles, and other sewing notions, 2020

Jess T. Dugan

Shira and Sarah

Inkjet print, 2020

A 3-by-3 arrangement of dye transfer prints, featuring a collection of broken bottles, pottery and other small items.

Michelle Elzay

Essex Boston & Family 1

Dye transfer prints, 2019–20

TR Ericsson

Bride

Nicotine on gessoed wood, 2019

A black woman undoing the braids in her hair.

Adama Delphine Fawundu

the un-doing

Digital video on framed monitor, with sound (12:41 min.), 2021

Portrait of a woman standing triumphant on what appears to be an industrialized moon.

Paula Gillen

Taishya, Riding High over the Ocean of Storms

Inkjet print, 2019

A family of refugees using a ladder climb over a border wall.

Rigoberto A. González

Refugees Crossing the Border Wall into South Texas

Oil on linen, 2020

Whimsical portrait of a woman seated on some cushions and flowers, with wild patterns throughout.

Kira Nam Greene

Kyung’s Gift in Pojagi

Oil, gouache, colored pencil, and acrylic ink on canvas, 2019

A mixed-media portrait of a woman's head, with a large and colorful headscarf.

Inga Guzyte

Cutting Edge

Wood and used skateboards, 2020

Mari Hernandez

Silia

Inkjet print, 2020

A triptic, featuring a small, intricate box sitting atop a table which is standing in the shallows of a pond.

David Hilliard

Dad, at Manmade Pond

Inkjet prints, 2020

Black and white portrait of a young black woman standing on the sidewalk with one hand on her hip and the other holding a skateboard.

Keegan Holden

Firefly

Inkjet print, 2019

Laura Karetzky

Toast

Oil on wood, 2019

A painted cloth portrait of a faceless boy.

Timothy Lee

A portrait of the comet boy as a bearer of memories

Silk, heat-transfer ink, gold leaf, and oil on canvas, 2019

A portrait of a woman, floating over a sea of notes connected with strings.

Riva Lehrer

Risk Picture: Achy Obejas

Charcoal, paper, thread, glass, fluorite, wire, and other media, 2020

A tattooed woman, a beauty mask on her face, arms stretched above her head.

Jarod Lew

Gracie

Inkjet print, 2019 (printed 2021)

Graphite drawing of a man with his eyes closed in front of his daughter.

Tim Lowly

2020 (Temma with her father and her Aunt Amy’s quilt)

Graphite on board, 2020

A painting of a woman in a headscarf standing with a parasol in front of a flowery patterned landscape.

Khánh H. Lê

She Waited for Her Family from This Point in Place

Acrylic paint, paper, and plastic jewels on canvas, 2021

Narsiso Martínez

Cherry

Ink, gouache, charcoal, metallic paint, and other media, 2020

A portrait of a family of women gazing out an open window.

Rania Matar

Minty, Kayla, Leyah, and Layla, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Inkjet print, 2020

Surveillance footage of an older woman slumped over at a table.

Cheryl Mukherji

Promise Me

Digital video with sound (7:37 min.), 2020

A portrait of a woman seated behind a customer service desk.

Marianna T. Olague

Customer Service Representative

Oil on canvas, 2020

A painting of a family, submerged to their chests in a jungle pool.

Maia Cruz Palileo

Wild Flowers

Oil on canvas, 2019

A photo of a girl in a public school bathroom.

Melissa Ann Pinney

Portrait of Jael

Inkjet print, 2019

A portrait of a man, naked, seated in a wooden chair, his back to the viewer and facing a canvas wall, on which dried flowers, hand-written letters, photographs and toys are hung.

Robert Schefman

In Love with My Best Friend

Oil on canvas, 2019

A photo of two embracing black men, one averting our gaze and the other with his face hidden behind the camera.

Paul Mpagi Sepuya

Darkroom Mirror (0X5A0752)

Inkjet print, 2019

A photo of a boy sitting in the middle of a stream.

Josephine Sittenfeld

Growing Up Ethan

Digital video with sound (15:20 min.), 2019

Grade Solomon

December 19

Inkjet print, 2020

A self-portrait painting of an older woman's face and nude torso.

Ilene Spiewak

Deeper into the Isolation of Self Information and Gender

Acrylic paint and charcoal on canvas, 2020