Francis Dosoo: Portrait of Dorothy Gale
Portrait of Dorothy Gale is a new commission by Francis Dosoo, that takes Diana Ross’s portrayal of Dorothy in The Wiz (1978), a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz, as its starting point to explore transcendental experiences. At the centre of this immersive installation is a fragmented moving-image work presented across multiple surfaces, which places the viewer in the eye of the iconic tornado that carries Dorothy to Oz.
Portrait of Dorothy Gale obscures, layers and distorts imagery from across the history of 20th century cinema, creating a psychological road movie in which images of rebellion, escape, discovery, and transformation swirl around the viewer, propelled by the force of the storm.
The Wiz was a favourite film of Dosoo’s family during his childhood, but when he revisited it as an adult he became fascinated by Ross’s intense, otherworldly depiction of Dorothy. Digging deeper, he learned that at the time of filming, Ross was undergoing a significant personal transformation, with director Sidney Lumet describing her as “a person going through a most extraordinary metamorphosis… absorbing everything, experiencing everything with unquenchable energy.” Ross felt deeply connected to Dorothy, seeing the character’s journey as mirroring her own. This became the conceptual foundation of the work, with Dosoo setting out to create a new vision of Oz built from fragments of broken moving imagery. For him, the line between the two figures began to blur, until he felt like The Wiz was about something bigger than either individual story. Dosoo came to see the film’s images as windows into another place, a transitional space between worlds, as described by the transcendental and mystical philosophers who have been central to his research for many years.
The resulting work is a surreal, cinematic environment which pulls viewers into a space between perception and memory. Portrait of Dorothy Gale unravels the fabric of its source materials, disrupting their meanings and distorting their position in time and space. A heartbroken blues singer becomes a cowardly Lion, a beguiling confidence trickster becomes a Tin Man, a tired restaurant manager, a Scarecrow. Dorothy, Ross and Dosoo’s journeys intertwine, becoming a psychological quest — an intimate search for new worlds and experiences that extend beyond rational understanding.
The work is supported by Creative Scotland's Open Fund for Individuals.
About Francis Dosoo
Francis Dosoo (b.1986, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a visual artist whose work explores the uses of memory.