The Shared Gaze

These works were selected as examples of contemporary portraiture that incorporate complex and sometimes troubling signifiers of race, class, gender, sexuality and identity; and which effectively ‘gaze back’ at the viewer, provoking questions about the mutability and shared experience of human identity. Students are encouraged to meet the challenge implicit in this ‘shared gaze’ by engaging in active dialogue around these questions of identity with educators, fellow students and the artworks themselves.