The portrait is deceptively simple. Charli xcx leans back against a pale wall in a white crop top and dark jeans, her voluminous dark hair caught mid-movement, her gaze directed downward and slightly away from the camera. There's no performance, no direct address, no obvious glamour. Just an intimacy and a slight vulnerability; the feeling of catching someone in a private moment rather than a staged one. For a photograph of one of the world's most recognisable pop stars, it's an unconventional choice.
Which is why I applaud the fact it's now hanging in Room 33 of London's National Portrait Gallery. Taken in 2024 by British photographer and director Harley Weir, the portrait has entered the NPG's permanent collection through Collecting the Now, the gallery's contemporary acquisitions fund supported by a £1 million gift from the Bukhman Foundation. It's on display in the History Makers space, which celebrates figures who have shaped contemporary culture and public life.
