Self-representation and cultural references in the work of Telly Tuita

There are no photographs of artist Telly Tuita before the age of nine. Yet, in his exhibition Tongpop’s Great Expectations, his face beams from many corners. These include grained self-portraits, some featuring back-facing subjects from Tuita’s heyday studying at Western Sydney University, and others include truant figures – blocked out grandfathers, silhouettes taken from sketches of wayward women, pop culture outlines of Disney foes shaded in light pastel and imposed on top of passport pictures. They are all intended to be iterations of him.