The first time you meet multidisciplinary artist Thom Roberts, you probably won’t leave with your own name. He might call you ‘Bert’, or ‘McDonald’s’, or perhaps ‘High-Speed Rail’. The artist himself identifies not only as Thom, but also as the CountryLink Express Train and the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia (soon to be the tallest tower in the world). These connections aren’t arbitrary; they’re deliberate, considered, and deeply meaningful. They are, as the artist says, “Thom’s way” of seeing people as many things at once—part of a world far bigger and more infinitely connected than a single identity.

Thom’s works are instantly recognisable—think portraits with extra sets of eyes or rows of ‘piano teeth’, cityscapes, animals, and a cast of real and imagined characters. They’re immediate in their charm, yet underpinned by poignant reflections on identity, perspective and belonging. His current exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in Kamberri/Canberra marks his first major solo show, bringing together more than a decade’s work spanning painting, installation, sculpture, animation, and works on paper.

“I named Canberra ‘Chicago City’. It is my first time having all my work together in two big rooms,” says Thom. “There are my old pictures and now they next to my new pictures. Old and new together.”

For Isobel Parker Philip, NPG’s director of curatorial and collection and the exhibition’s curator, the show is not only a celebration of Thom’s practice—it’s about expanding the definition of portraiture itself. “This exhibition looks at the way Thom performs portraiture in his everyday life,” she says. “He’s re-describing the people that he meets and he’s mapping new connections based on those new identities. This show really tries to articulate those profoundly intentional lines of association.”

The exhibition explores how these associations are framed and reframed through Thom’s creative lens—sometimes quite literally, via the tunnels that act as little portals of fresh perspective within the gallery space. In Thom’s hands, portraiture becomes both artwork and social gesture. His is a radically inclusive practice that acknowledges the fluid nature of identity and celebrates the unexpected connections forged along the way.

Early in the exhibition sits a bold, newly commissioned self-portrait. Thom explains: “I have my glasses, and my green t-shirt and my clouds up in the sky and my very tall building in construction. I’ve also added a tunnel in my mouth to make the trains go through. I added railway tracks in Thom’s mouth. It’s a portriff [portrait] of me with my grey-white beard and moustache.”

The show gathers work from key past exhibitions, including a series of portraits pairing important people in Thom’s life with their train twin, originally commissioned for The National 2019: New Australian Art. Several of his Archibald Prize entries appear too, including Dinkie is Thom’s friend (2024) and A portriff of Adam (Shane Simpson AM) (2021). Many of his portraiture subjects hail from Studio A, a supported studio for artists with intellectual disability with whom Thom works closely. Visitors will also encounter an immersive video-installation-slash-ping-pong-match designed to mimic courtroom power dynamics. “I hope they like playing table tennis in the courthouse room with the giants,” says Thom.

Elsewhere, a monumental wall of paintings each captures a different emotion. “These works almost tip into abstraction, but they still very legibly carry personality and sentiment in such a way that we can readily project our own emotional states onto them,” notes Parker Philip. Working with creative arts therapist Katie Harvey at Studio A, Thom has developed this suite of paintings as a set of visual emotion cards that anyone can use to communicate their feelings (audiences can pick up their set at the NPG art shop). “I think visitors like how they feel in my exhibition,” says Thom. “There are lots of feelings in there like happiness, frustrated, joy, worried and nervous. I think my exhibition will make people laugh, think, [and] feel.”

For audiences, stepping into The Immersive World of Thom Roberts feels a bit like being offered a new name. It’s playful, disorienting, and gently profound. Through his expanded, world-building approach to portraiture, Thom reminds us to embrace the complexity of identity and experience. His portraits don’t pin people down – they lift them up, offering new ways of being and understanding in a joyful reimagining of the portrait and the self.

The Immersive World of Thom Roberts
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
On now—20 July