Inwards and Outwards: Looking at the Self and the Other

Most portraiture relies on concentrated looking, although this can be deliberately glossed over in expressionist or gestural portrait sketches.  But self-portraits evoke different dynamics of looking in so far as they explore profound issues of vision, practice and professional status as well as psychological investigations into the self as a creative individual. This talk, focused directly on the ‘evidence’ of the drawings in the exhibition, will attempt ad hoc readings that illuminate the differences and confluences in the two kinds of drawn portrait practice. 

Deanna Petherbridge is an artist, writer and curator whose practice is centered around drawing.  A major retrospective of her drawings was held at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester during 2016-17 accompanied by the publication Deanna Petherbridge: Drawing and Dialogue, 2016. Her three professorships in drawing include the Royal College of Art (1995-2001) and she is the author of The Primacy of Drawing: Histories and Theories of Practice, 2010.  Recent curated exhibitions include Witches and Wicked Bodies, National Galleries of Scotland & British Museum 2013-15 and Artists at Work, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2018.