The National Portrait Gallery invited Years 10, 11 and 12 students from schools around Australia to make portraits in response to the theme Self Identity - making connections. Headspace 9 shows self portraits that deal with connections to place and family, relationships to objects and possessions, the passing of time, moods and emotions, and events that have significant impact on growing up. This exhibition invites us to consider and discover the students’ stories of self, and make meaning of their diverse visual representations. The National Portrait Gallery is committed to providing students with an opportunity to exhibit portraits, rigorously engage with the creative process as well as connecting with other students.
The aim of Headspace is to expand secondary students’ understanding of self portraiture, to explore its possibilities as an art form, and to express ideas about self identity. Through self portraiture students can examine and express much about themselves – how they fit comfortably or otherwise into a community; real or virtual, local or national, family or friends. The National Portrait Gallery congratulates all the artists who submitted work for Headspace 9 and thanks them for their generosity in so willingly sharing their artistic insights.
