Lead Curator of Art Madeline Ward is joined by panelists including artists Jiab Prachakul (winner of the 2020 BP Portrait Award First Prize), Egbert Modderman (winner of the Young Artist Award), finalist Jennifer MacRae and National Portrait Gallery Associate Curator Rosie Broadley.

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Jiab Prachakul was born in Nakhon Phanom, in northeast Thailand. She studied filmography at Thammasat University before working as a casting director at a Bangkok production company. In 2006, Prachakul relocated to London where she realised that she wanted to be an artist after attending the David Hockney exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery that year. Now living in Lyon, her work has been seen in solo exhibitions in the UK, Germany and France.

The portrait is of the artist’s friends Jeonga, a designer from Korea, and Makoto a composer from Japan, on a visit to Berlin. Prachakul wanted to capture their discussions about art and culture. She says: ‘Observing the identity of my friends, has helped me to understand who I am. It has offered me a ground on where I can stand and embrace my own identity as an Asian artist who lives and works aboard.‘