Mysterious portrait artist reveals herself at the B.C. Legislature

She was a true “Artful Dodger.” For weeks an artist was producing portraits of politicians and reporters at the B.C. Legislature while dodging detection. But Zoe Duhaime has now revealed herself as the character behind the caricatures.

The 23-year-old B.C. Legislative intern has been spending the last six weeks drawing post-it note sized portraits while piling up Twitter followers on the BC Poli Portraits social media page. What had everyone talking about the illustrations was the mystery behind it.

“It has been great walking down the hallways and hearing people talk about me not knowing it’s me, that’s really cool,” said Duhaime. “And now that people know who I am they find me the hallways and ask for me to draw them, so that is different and fun.”

Duhaime has drawn 159 pictures since the account started on April 26. The subjects have ranged from B.C. Premier John Horgan to MLAs of all political stripes to press gallery members.

Duhaime’s internship is coming to a conclusion at the end of June and decided it was a good time to reveal herself, with the official reveal taking place on the floor of the B.C. Legislature.

“I’m delighted to be able to announce a little secret in the House, a great-held secret throughout the last session,” said Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes. “I have the pleasure of informing the House that Zoe Duhaime is the illustrator and mastermind behind all of the artwork, the Twitter account B.C. Poli Portraits. Thank you, Zoe, talented artist, great novelist. We can’t wait to see what your future holds. Thank you very much on behalf of all of us.”

WATCH HERE: Mystery caricaturist is the talk of Victoria

2:03 Mystery caricaturist is the talk of Victoria

Duhaime’s immediate future is planned out. Once the internship wraps up she is heading to Montreal to work on a novel she has planned out but hasn’t had the time to finish yet. The former youth poet laureate for Victoria then plans on enrolling at Concordia University’s journalism program.

One of the constants of the BC Poli Portrait account were illustrations of Global BC’s Keith Baldrey. Baldrey’s 30 plus year career in Victoria jotted out in tiny photos, from his photos with Bill Vander Zalm and Joe Clark to the present day. The long-time legislative reporter pleased he was a big part of the portrait-mania.

“Everyone was trying to figure out who was drawing these pictures, and it ended up being one of the interns, which is great because it’s a great program,” said Baldrey. “I thought she brought such much needed levity especially when we were getting to the end of session.”

And now that the search for the secret sketcher has drawn to a close, Duhaime is still contemplating whether she should continue the pictures. But she will be leaving the legislature having left an impression much bigger than the post-notes that act as her canvass.

“I hope people are delighted and that they see the fun of it,” said Duhaime.