Michael Zavros At the British Museum

In 2001, Michael Zavros was awarded a residency in Milan, Italy. En route, he stopped in London, where he went to the British Museum – a visit captured in this self-portrait.

‘People often photograph themselves in front of grand monuments, staking a claim on history and their moment with it. But this tiny painting represents a fleeting, humble and troubled moment before the great marbles of the Parthenon. I was away from home and so were they,’ says Zavros, a six-time Archibald finalist.

‘Today we live in a world where museums are busily trying to repatriate their ill-gotten trophies to their rightful homes. Meanwhile, in contemporary culture we desperately try to atone for the sins of the past. So how does my provenance, as a second-generation Greek Cypriot boy, whose father’s homeland was stolen by Turkey, inform what I make?

‘This painting is not intended as a political statement, but you cannot avoid seeing it through the lens of current discussions about cultural theft. I feel connected but also at a remove from this moment and from my own history.’