The first exhibition to comprehensively bring together the rich portrait holdings of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, WHO ARE YOU: Australian Portraiture reframes and questions conventional understandings of this genre. By branching out from traditional modes of representation, and examining diverse and sometimes unconventional ways of representing likeness, this exhibition challenges us to consider alternative ways of depicting the self.
Join exhibition curator Beckett Rozentals to unpack an intriguing facet of portraiture – the self portrait. Self-reflection is a format that appears to grant the viewer the assurance of revelation and intimate access to the artist’s psyche. However, what the artist intends to communicate to their audience through self-portraiture is highly varied, and the message each artist conveys is as individual as the artist themselves.