WHO ARE YOU: Australian Portraiture is the first exhibition to comprehensively bring together the rich portrait holdings of both the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. Revealing the artistic synergies and contrasts between the two institutions’ collections, this co-curated exhibition considers portraiture in Australia across time and media and the role of this genre in the development of a sense of Australian national identity.
Join NGV curators Beckett Rozentals and Sophie Gerhard for a free tour of the exhibition. They will explore how understandings of what constitutes portraiture can change and evolve, from recreating a true likeness, to more abstract notions of self, identity and memory. The curators will unpack the many works in the exhibition that embrace this potential, revealing themes of person and place, inner worlds, intimate selves, politics, celebrity and the social sphere.