Look at Me

Look At Me poster

 

Self-portraits by groups from across the UK
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund

Look at Me involved community groups from across the UK. Over a period of 6 months the National Portrait Gallery worked in partnership with museums, galleries, charities and other organisations.

Each group worked alongside artists, photographers, poets, and videographers to create their own self-portraits. Participant groups included young travellers, homeless people, those in care, those with mental health issues, young people outside formal education and those seeking asylum.

The project was set up to encourage people to engage with portraiture, heritage and the arts and to offer them an opportunity to develop their own successful artistic project which will be exhibited on a national stage. The artwork is displayed alongside the stories of those that made them, and offers a unique insight into the diversity of those living in Britain today. Inspiration was taken from the portraits in the Gallery's own collections as well as portraits in other institutions, and a selection of self-portraits from the Gallery's Collection is included in the exhibition.

Young People from the Prince's Trust working at Montacute House in Somerset

Look at Me is the third project in the National Portrait Gallery's innovative Reaching Out, Drawing In programme.

The Gallery worked closely with partner organisations both in London and across the UK including: Barnardo's, Sunderland Museums and Winter Gardens, National Museums Liverpool, The National Museums of Scotland, Look Ahead Housing and Care, The Connection at St Martin's, Montacute House (The National Trust) and Self Portrait UK.