Self Portrait is a collaborative work by Shary Boyle, using black ink, and Shuvinai Ashoona, using coloured pencils. The two artists represent themselves in a Northern landscape strewn with strange objects and motifs culled from their imaginations. Some of the elements refer to the practice of working as a duo, like the drawing Ashoona’s character is showing and the blank sheets of paper scattered around her feet. Self Portrait blurs the notion of authorship and sidesteps the self-portrait tradition by exploring the creative processes that take shape in duality.

Although they come from different cultures, one living in Toronto and the other in Cape Dorset, Shary Boyle and Shuvinai Ashoona have been working in collaboration since 2011. Boyle is known for ceramics that suggest ambiguous narratives of love, pain and sexuality, while Ashoona produces drawings peopled by fantastical creatures and replete with disparate objects.