![Image: Sam Lieblich and Amrita Hepi, [Neighbour], ACCA 2020](https://photo.org.au/api/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/past_work_Sam_Lieblich_and_Amrita_Hepi_6-200x112.jpg "past_work_Sam_Lieblich_and_Amrita_Hepi_6")
![Image: Phebe Schmidt and Danny Cohen, from the series [Irons in the Fire]. Courtesy the artists.](https://photo.org.au/api/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WEB-Image-from-Irons-in-the-Fire-series-Phebe-Schmidt-and-Danny-Cohen.Image-courtesy-of-the-artists.-200x142.jpg "WEB Image from Irons in the Fire series, Phebe Schmidt and Danny Cohen.Image courtesy of the artists.")
![Image: Lucy Foster, [Third Eye], 2020. Courtesy the artist.](https://photo.org.au/api/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WEB-LF_third-eye-2020_HR-200x133.jpg "WEB LF_third eye 2020_HR")
![Image: Sam Lieblich, [PHRASER: Intrusive Thoughts] (digital output), 2021. Courtesy the artist and FUTURES.](https://photo.org.au/api/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/HERO-WEB-two-mirrors-facing-each-other-producing-a-mise-en-abyme-with-a-crystal-at-the-centre-and-two-people-on-either-side-and-the-whole-thing-looks-like-an-emblem-Sam-Lieblich-and-PHRASER-2021-200x200.jpg "HERO WEB two mirrors facing each other producing a mise en abyme with a crystal at the centre and two people on either side and the whole thing looks like an emblem - Sam Lieblich and PHRASER 2021")
The Portrait
28 April 2022 - 04 June 2022
![Image: Arini Byng, [Remember what you heard when you weren't even listening] (video still), 2019–21. Courtesy the artist.](https://photo.org.au/api/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/HERO-RememberwhatyouheardwhenyouwerentevenlisteningStillAriniByng1-200x106.jpg "HERO - RememberwhatyouheardwhenyouwerentevenlisteningStillAriniByng1")
Image: Arini Byng, Remember what you heard when you weren't even listening (video still), 2019–21. Courtesy the artist.
Image: Arini Byng, Remember what you heard when you weren't even listening (video still), 2019–21. Courtesy the artist.
When
28 April 2022 - 04 June 2022
Region
Town Hall Precinct
Venue
Theme
Self
Accessibility
Wheelchair access
Price
Free
As a genre of photography that conflates image with identity, ‘the portrait’ carries a complex and problematic past. How portraiture is made and used is ever-evolving, its history a record of social change, documenting shifts in cultural values and technology. The role that portraiture performs in our lives has transformed, along with the attitudes and approaches of artists in responding to the task of art-making amidst the rapidly changing conditions of contemporary visual culture.
The Portrait is an investigation into the emerging and fluid possibilities of portrait photography and its impact upon image-making today. Ten artists have been invited to produce ‘a portrait’ for the exhibition. The artists selected work in both traditional modes of portrait photography and alternative multidisciplinary practices. By considering the medium in an expanded sense, the artists are able to contemplate, critique, and challenge the limits of what a portrait can be.
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Curators
Josephine Mead (AU)
Josephine Mead is a visual artist, writer and curator, working and residing on Wurundjeri woi-wurrung Country. Interested in exploring personal notions of support, she works through photography, sculpture, installation, sound and poetry. She has exhibited widely, nationally and internationally and has undertaken residency programs in Victoria (The Macfarlane Fund Residency), Mexico (The Arquetopia Foundation Residency), Turkey (The Tasarim Bakkali Residency), Portugal (The Córtex Frontal Residency) and Germany (The ZK/U Residency at Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik). She is co-founder of Co- Publishing and Chair of Artistic Directors for Blindside Gallery.
Karl Halliday (AU)
Karl Halliday is a Belfast-born curator, photographer and writer based between Naarm/Melbourne and Boorloo/Perth. Karl’s curatorial practice leverages his interests in contemporary photography, conceptual art, and performance theory with a focus on participatory and pedagogical approaches to exhibition making. Karl currently serves as Chair on BLINDSIDE’s board of directors. Karl holds a MA in Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.
![Phebe Schmidt and Danny Cohen, from [Irons in the Fire] series, 2022. Image courtesy of the artists.](https://photo.org.au/api/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Image-from-Irons-in-the-Fire-series-Phebe-Schmidt-and-Danny-Cohen.Image-courtesy-of-the-artists.-200x142.jpg "Image from Irons in the Fire series, Phebe Schmidt and Danny Cohen.Image courtesy of the artists.")