Dance of Eshu is a panoramic drawing created through my durational portraiture process with DMAC, a dancer and creative. Over several months of sustained conversation, repeated observation, and intuitive mark-making, we developed a co-creative practice that traces both his physical presence and the evolving emotional and psychological dimensions of his identity.
The piece was one of two monumental works that culminated the project. Prior to this, the process produced weeks of exploratory studies and four large-scale, multilayered portraits, each contributing to a deeper understanding of DMAC’s experiences, presence, and the rhythm of his movements.
The drawing depicts a choreography created by DMAC in which he captures his dialogue with me. Over the course of a day, we rode a wave of creative conversation and movement, with DMAC performing and me drawing in real time, again and again. The work translates the interplay of presence, rhythm, and expression into a layered visual form while expressing aspects of DMAC’s selfhood carried since childhood, including navigating colourism, masculinity, and the urge to suppress femininity.
The drawing is the result of this sustained, collaborative process, translating the energy, vulnerability, and flow of his performance into an expansive, layered portrait.
Curtis Holder (b. 1968, Leicester) is a London-based artist known for his large-scale works on paper in graphite and coloured pencil. Rooted in intimate conversations with his sitters, Holder blends dialogue and drawing to explore identity, emotion, and human connection. His work centres on individuals whose experiences fall outside dominant cultural narratives, including Black and Brown people, Queer identities, and others whose stories are overlooked. His distinctive multilayered drawings, defined by dynamic, febrile lines, capture the form, movement, and emotional depth of his subjects.
In the past year, Holder has expanded his practice through an experimental approach to durational portraiture. Working over extended periods with his sitters, he uses sustained conversation, repeated observation, and intuitive mark-making to explore drawing as an act of co-creation. The outcomes of this process range from exploratory drawings and series of multilayered portraits to large collaborative works that can extend to room-length in scale. Rooted in dialogue, time, and trust, these works capture not only physical form and movement but also the evolving emotional and psychological dimensions of his subjects.
Holder gained national recognition after winning Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2020, leading to a commissioned portrait of ballet dancer Carlos Acosta for Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Subsequent accolades include The John Ruskin Prize (2024). In 2023, he was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and Terrence Higgins Trust to create a posthumous portrait of Terry Higgins, one of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness. His solo exhibitions include The Makers: Portraits from Backstage at the National Theatre (2023), Portraits of Brotherhood at Guildford House Gallery (2024) and RBSA Gallery, Birmingham (2025), Curtis Holder: Drawing Carlos Acosta (2024) at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and Silent Echoes, Spoken Truths at Leeds Art Gallery (2024–25). His works are held in prominent collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, MCC Museum, Lord’s Cricket Ground and Soho House.
Educated at Kingston University and Central Saint Martins, Holder is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters, The Society of Graphic Fine Art, and The Pastel Society. Beyond the studio, he collaborates with cultural institutions to engage diverse audiences, inspiring creativity and fostering discussions on identity and representation.
