And once he began to view the world from behind the lens, it took only a few skips and jumps for him to want to be an artist.

Stambouliah, 22, has the honour of being the first artist to be asked to exhibit at the Richard Wherrett Studio, Sydney Theatre, in Walsh Bay. His Betwixt (the Black Show) opened on Tuesday.

The exhibition features images of some of Australia’s best known performers, including Paul Capsis, Linda Cropper, David Field, Sandy Gore, Victoria Haralabidou, Lisa Hensley, iOTA, Olivia Stambouliah (his sister), Yvonne Strahovski and Damian Walshe-Howling.

The honours graduate from the UNSW College of Fine Arts (COFA) wanted to look behind the public surface of his subjects to uncover some of their hidden aspects.

“I’m taking risks to deny the expectation of identity,’’ he said.

He found that actors were usually very generous with their time and keen to support young artists.

Stambouliah grew up in Kingsgrove, the youngest in a family of five children. His psychologist father, Hadi, was a keen amateur photographer and inevitably the kids were his main subject.

At nine, Stambouliah was given his own camera, after which he spent a lot of time following around his older sister Olivia, who was becoming an actor and had lots of actor friends.

‘‘By 15 I knew I loved the fine arts world,’’ he said.

He hopes to become Australia’s Annie Leibovitz, and later on to try filmmaking and directing, perhaps in the style of Jane Campion.

Meanwhile, he is off to the US for an exhibition in May.

Betwixt (the Black Show) ends on Monday, March 5.