The SIM Project: Connecting Lives Through Tiny Portraits

Inspired by the tiny but powerful smartphone SIM card, The SIM Project brings together art, technology, and global stories of belonging. Led by artist and anthropologist Liz Hingley, the workshops at the National Portrait Gallery invited young people from diverse backgrounds to explore how miniature images shape identity in both historic and contemporary contexts.

Exploring Miniatures Past & Present

Participants began by viewing miniature portraits from around the world and early photographic formats such as tintypes and cartes‑de‑visite - small objects once shared across borders to keep relationships alive.

*Collective portrait created through tracing projections of personal glass prints*

They then mapped their own connections by tracing a thread from London to someone important in their digital lives, contributing to a growing global map of personal ties.

Turning Digital Portraits into Tiny Artworks

Using a custom 3D‑printed camera known as the shrinker, each participant transformed a smartphone image into a SIM‑sized glass print inside a portable darkroom.

*Glass prints developing in the project’s miniature darkroom*

Watching their digital photos appear through analogue processes created moments of reflection and emotional connection.

Projection, Tracing & Collaborative Drawing

Once developed, the glass miniatures were projected at a larger scale, revealing delicate textures. Participants traced these projections together to form a collaborative artwork.

*Tracing over enlarged glass SIM prints*

Wearing the Finished Miniature

Each glass print was placed into a hand‑stamped metal pendant, and a small portrait studio captured participants proudly wearing their creations.

*Hilina, wearing her hand stamped SIM pendant*

Exploring Identity Through Scent

In collaboration with perfumer Simon Constantine, participants also explored how smell relates to memory and belonging, creating a collective fragrance called Daybreak.

Developed over eight years, The SIM Project has grown into a global creative initiative, with exhibitions at the V&A, selection for the 2025 London Design Biennale, and over a thousand SIM‑scale artworks created across eight countries. As one participant put it:

“The SIM Project allows people to connect to their own culture in a new way, in a new place.”