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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Headspace 10

Self/reflections

Previous exhibition
from Thursday 9 September until Sunday 7 November 2010

Headspace 10 is a national, secondary school art exhibition from all states and territories exploring the theme, Self/reflections, through portraiture. Headspace 10 celebrates a decade of the Headspace project at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Precasso Armoured Butterfly, 2010 by Alicia Mozqueira

Headspace 10 is a national secondary student exhibition exploring the possibilities of portraiture through painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and film. The artists investigate likeness, enact documentary, embellish appearance and use dress, poses and props to convey their position within their group and more broadly within society. The tradition of signaling relationships within family and friendship groups continues through portraits exploring gender, culture, social issues and sexuality. Many of the artists have experimented with technique and style, at times referencing well-known artists' work. Headspace 10 offers the opportunity to reflect and perhaps reconnect with the life and experience of secondary school students.

The National Portrait Gallery invited visual art teachers nationwide to explore with their students the theme self/reflections. Studio thinking and discovering the possibilities of portraiture provide experiences for students that they are unable to obtain in other ways. The theme was deliberately inclusive and challenging to extend students' thinking and the creation and selection process was not driven by assessment criteria. Teachers were asked to submit up to six works per school which demonstrated experimentation and investigation of the theme. From the 700 submitted portraits an exhibition group of 100 were selected.

Drawing in all its forms underlies many of the works in this exhibition. Within the exhibition the National Portrait Gallery has designed a drawing space to connect visitors of all ages and abilities with the ideas of the exhibition through looking, discussing, reflecting, creating and presenting drawing.

This exhibition celebrates ten years of the Headspace project at the National Portrait Gallery. Underpinning Headspace is the belief that portraiture is a valuable, potent and relevant art form through which students can explore aspects of themselves and those who mean most to them.

We thank the students and their teachers for their contribution to this exhibition.

99 portraits

1 Catch me if you can, 2010 by Jennifer Leonforte. 2 Passing time!, 2010 by Samuel Brien. 3 Caught under, 2010 by Josie Whitburn. 4 Sticky portraits, 2010 by Brock Adlington. 5 Aeroplane, 2010 by Najem Aldorki. 6 Nanna, 2010 by Emalee Aloi.
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Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency