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QAGOMA Touring: Looking Out, Looking In: Exploring the Self-Portrait

Thursday 27 November 2025 10:00 am
Sunday 18 January 2026 1:00 pm

Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery 56 Lock Street Stanthorpe, QLD, 4380 Australia (map)

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James Gleeson / Australia 1915–2008 / Structural emblems of a friend (self portrait) 1941 / Oil on canvas board / 46 x 35.6cm / Purchased 1984 with the assistance of the John Darnell Bequest / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © QAGOMA

Madonna Staunton / Australia 1938–2019 / They say 2010 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 38 x 32.8 x 2.2cm (framed) / Purchased 2014 with funds from the Estate of Jessica Ellis through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: QAGOMA / © Madonna Staunton

People’s persistent interest in the self-image is explored in a new exhibition of work from the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Collection, opening at Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery on 27 November 2025.

Drawing from QAGOMA’s Australian, Indigenous Australian, Asia Pacific and International collections, ‘Looking Out, Looking In: Exploring the Self-Portrait’ highlights richly diverse approaches to the timeless artistic genre.

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines CNZM said ‘Looking Out, Looking In’ had been devised against the backdrop of contemporary ‘selfie’ culture.

‘We have become increasingly attuned to the self-image through the ubiquity of handheld digital devices, social media and reality TV, all of which create a new context for self-portraiture,’ Mr Saines said.

‘Through historical examples and artworks that reflect contemporary trends, the exhibition reveals significant cultural shifts and identify the universal themes that still characterise the genre.’

‘While some artists look inwards to reflect on themselves in self-effacing ways, others project a more flamboyant image. Together, the artworks situate self-portraiture as a dynamic genre responsive to larger societal concerns, and linked to the collective desire to picture and comprehend ourselves.’

Works in ‘Looking Out, Looking In’ are grouped thematically, rather than chronologically, with an emphasis on the contemporary.

The artists included in ‘Altered states’ scrutinise the mutability of the self-image, whether through masking or distortion, while those in ‘In the flesh’ examine their bodies as sites of self-assertion or experimentation. ‘The composite self’ examines the multifaceted nature of identity, and the idea that our sense of self is informed by many influences, including social circles and family ties. ‘Role play’ includes artworks that contest the notion of individuality, and the idea that a self-portrait can reveal a different identity.

These main themes are augmented by works where artists have captured themselves in profile, and photographs that reflect a documentary value and play on the relationship between camera and photographer.

In an age when digital technology has transformed the way we live and interpret our lives, ‘Looking Out, Looking In’ offers a broad and accessible setting in which to consider our contemporary obsession with self.

Artists featured include Abdul Abdullah, Davida Allen, Fiona Foley, James Gleeson, Nora Heysen, George W. Lambert, Tracey Moffatt, Yasumasa Morimura, Vincent Namatjira, Luke Roberts, Cindy Sherman and Madonna Staunton, among others.

The exhibition will be on display at Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery until 18 January.