Private Portrait | Manifest

Client: Manifest – Artist: Gombo

Target Medium: Pico G3

The Private Portrait is a Virtual Reality experience that invites viewers to step inside reimagined historical portraits of Afro-European figures. Created by visual artist Gombo, each portrait becomes a richly painted 3D environment, where the figure comes to life and shares a personal story from the time of the transatlantic slave trade.

Told from the perspectives of men and women whose voices were long left out of history, these intimate, fictionalized memories shed light on the lived experiences behind the paintings. Blending animation, storytelling, and historical imagination, the experience encourages reflection on remembrance, representation, and the enduring impact of colonial history.

Developed in collaboration with artist Gombo, the The Private Portrait is a poetic exploration of forgotten perspectives on history and is part of the MANIFEST initiative, which reimagines Europe’s collective memory of the transatlantic slave trade through new artistic perspectives.