The self-portrait enables students to explore emerging and changing aspects of their own identity, their sense of self, their place in the world, their experience of being human. This exhibition of secondary student portrait art is an important way for students to assimilate their own ideas about self-identity and art making processes. In Being Me: Headspace IIII emphasis is placed on the process of realising ideas through experimentation with materials.

Student programs and teachers' evenings are scheduled as part of this exhibition.

Lauren Ferns
Self-portrait
lino print
30 x 15 cm
Year 9
St Francis Xavier College, Canberra

Artist's Statement
This portrait is a cartoon form of a photograph taken. We used three different colours (yellow, red and blue) plus black to create a simple image. The black lines are thick and give the artwork definition while the bright colours create an unrealistic view of what I look like.

Joel Gaudiosi
Self-portrait In Apron
pen/ink on paper
29 x 23 cm
Year 7
Edmund Rice College, Wollongong

Artist's Statement
I really like drawing. These special pens make thick and thin lines with heavy and light pressure.

Chris Hobbs
Wildlife
dry point etching
7 x 9 cm
Year 8
Edmund Rice College, Wollongong

Artist's Statement
The day I started this artwork I did not know what I should do. Our teacher wanted us to work on self-portraits but after I did it, it looked a bit plain. I really like animals so I decided to add a bird and a possum onto my shoulders. There is the idea of fun about this picture.

Oliver Hunter
Green Man
oil on oilsketch paper
65 x 46.5 cm
Year 10
MacKillop Catholic College/Isabella Plains Campus, Canberra

Artist's Statement
Leaves rustle in the deepening twilight. The trees whisper their secret messages from branch to branch. There seems no end to the darkness of the woods, where passages of foliage echo with the laughter of Green Man. Medieval Theologians held that man possessed the intellect of angels, the reason of humankind, the intuition of animals, and the innate life force of the animal kingdom. The Green Man is a pagan figure that survived throughout the Christian expansion period, symbolising the cycles of nature and the new growth of Spring. He is also associated with the wild periods of creative genius in the lives of artists, poets, musicians and shamans. 'To be wood' in Medieval terms was to undergo a period of instability and abandon, to escape into a world apart from that of the everyday. When I paint, I enter this same place, populating the canvas with the various creatures I meet within. Green Man is an expression of my personal desire to escape into this world. It is a reflection of my creative personality and a synthesis of my human nature and my environment. Here the Green Man looks down as a guardian of the paths within the soul, leading the traveller deep into the wild wood of the subconscious…….

Janelle McKay
The Joy Of Life
synthetic polymer/mixed media on board
45 x 60 cm
Year 11
Daramalan College, Canberra

Artist's Statement
Life is an amazing concept.
If we can find joy in the mere experience of living, then what happy souls we would be.
Our lives are like flowers,
We are warmed by the sun,
Nourished by the rain,
As we grow more we face challenges,
Which can hurt but ultimately make us stronger.
Then, in time, we rise up closer and closer to the glory of the sun.
For me flowers are a representation of joy and life.
This is what I have tried to express in my painting.

Grayson Stopp
Infinite
synthetic polymer on oilsketch
74 x 62 cm
Year 12
MacKillop Catholic College/Isabella Plains Campus, Canberra

Artist's Statement
As a student studying in Year 12, my future is very uncertain at this stage in my life. Therefore, instead of depicting myself very clearly, I decided to break my face down into small, unfocused pieces. Since our society has become very dependent on science and technology, I created my piece to appear as though it was both futuristic and computer generated. In constructing my final image, I was influenced by the work of Chuck Close.

Megan Thomas
The Sum Of My Parts
type C photograph
18.5 x 18.5 each image
Year 12
Narrabundah College, Canberra

Artist's Statement
In presenting my self-identity, I chose to divide the physical features of my face into four separate photographs. Each image represents a different aspect of my personality. The eye represents my confident qualities. The side of my face represents my reflective nature. The sandwich represents my balanced healthy life style, and the flute represents my love of music. By combining these four images, I am aiming to give the viewer some clues into my personality, without revealing myself completely. This is achieved through the distortion that has been created by the four photographs. By doing this, I am seeking to illustrate the notion that we are more than the sum of our parts.

Phillipa Webb
One
lino print
25 x 20 cm
Year 9
The Scots School Albury, Albury

Artist's Statement
Being at boarding school friendship is the most important thing to keep you sane. I thoroughly enjoyed putting together this artwork as it was very fulfilling seeing the final product of a lino block print. The print, especially the 'hug' shows a sense of depending on each other. The way I have set up the work symbolises how our friendship is growing and moulding us together.