Drawing from Life is a series of 120 digital drawings based on casual encounters that occurred online.

The drawings were made in the online chat platform Chatroulette, which randomly pairs strangers from around the world for webcam-based conversations. The system also provides a drawing tool that allows participants to interact via manual writing or drawing. In Drawing from Life, this tool has been employed to turn the artist’s presence into a long, silent drawing performance. Any time a new partner connected to the chat, the artist started to draw what was visible on the screen. Some partners became bored and ended the chat within a few seconds, leaving the portrait incomplete; some tried to talk; some posed; some kept doing what they were doing; and some contributed to the drawing.