PHOTOGRAPHY AND IDENTITY: THE SELF-PORTRAIT. Face-to-Face and Online Educational Sessions for Secondary, Sixth Form and Vocational Education Students

This programme aims to connect schools with contemporary art and to foster young people’s engagement with the artistic practices of their time.

These themed sessions introduce cross-curricular subjects such as ecology, equality, identity and migration, supporting students in exploring and understanding the world around them through artistic practice.

What is a self-portrait? Does it go beyond physical representation? What shapes our identity? What would make us cease to be ourselves?

Through self-portraiture, a range of artists reflect on identity: personal identity, social and family identity, alterity and simulation. These artists embrace self-exploration and the exploration of others through photography as both a medium and a form of fiction. The sessions consider different notions of the self: the self reflected in the mirror and in the empty interiors of Francesca Woodman; the self embodied in Esther Ferrer’s object-portraits; a multiple and shifting self in the mutable identities created by Joan Fontcuberta and the Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura; the self through others in Nan Goldin’s photographic snapshots; a concealed or fragmented self in the portraits of John Coplans and Arnulf Rainer; the self and personal relationships in the narratives of Sophie Calle; the transgressive and political self of the Guerrilla Girls; and, finally, the radical transformations explored in the work of artists such as Orlan.

TARGET GROUP

Upper secondary (ESO), sixth form (Bachillerato) and vocational education students.

REGISTRATION

FACE-TO-FACE SESSIONS
Duration: 90 minutes / Capacity: up to 25 participants
At the end of the session, participants will take part in a practical workshop exploring some of the ideas discussed during the presentation. Students will create an object-based self-portrait that functions as a time capsule of their identity.
Booking: This activity is free of charge. To request a session, schools should email onlinecgac@gmail.com including: school name, name of the lead teacher, group size, year group or age range, preferred date and time, and contact telephone number and email address.