About Face is a research group at the University of the Arts London which emerged from the UAL’s commitment to encouraging communities of practice to work collaboratively and in cross disciplinary contexts. It brings together artists, theorists, curators and writers to examine what happens when different disciplines and perspectives are brought to bear on the edges of portraiture.
Since 2014 there have been a number of symposia with a range of invited speakers from across the UAL. External contributions came from colleagues at the Bath Academy of Art, the British Museum, the Holburne Museum, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Wellcome Collection. The themes that have emerged from these events relate to identity, the embodied self, vulnerability, exposure, possession, gaze, power and the archival inhabitation of the body. Over the past two years the group has developed a web based learning resource that explores the boundaries of contemporary portraiture and identity.
People involved
Eileen Hogan
Professor of Fine Art, CCW, UAL
Website
Charlotte Hodes
Professor of Fine Art, LCF, UAL
Website
Mark Fairnington
Reader in Painting, CCW, UAL
Website
Stephen Farthing
Rootstein Hopkins Chair of Drawing, UAL
Website
Anita Taylor
Professor and Dean of Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University
Website
Colin Wiggins
Special Projects Curator, National Gallery
Website
Dan Allen
Head of Department, Art, Bath Spa University
Website
Dominic Janes
Professor of Modern History, Keele University
Website
Felicity Allen
Artist
Website
Fiona Smith
Adult Programmes Officer, National Portrait Gallery
Website
Gavin Turk
Professor of Art and Design, Bath Spa University
Website
Hannah Westley
Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature and English Global Communications, American University in Paris
Website
Ian King
Professor of Aesthetics, LCF
Website
Isabel Seligman
Curator, Bridget Riley Art Foundation at the British Museum
Website
Janet Mckenzie
Former Co-editor Studio International, writer and artist and About Face Editor
Website
Jennifer Scott
Director, Holburne Museum
Website
Jo Melvin
Reader in Fine Art Theory, Chelsea College of Art
Website
Oriana Baddeley
Professor and Dean of Research, UAL
Website
Rab MacGibbon
Curator, NPG
Website
Robert Luzar
Lecturer in Fine Art, Bath Spa University
Website
Rosie Broadley
Associate Curator, National Portrait Gallery
Website
Sally Taylor
Fine Art, York St John University
Website
Sandy Nairne
Former Director of the NPG
Website
Sarah Jaffray
Project Officer, British Museum and Wellcome Trust
Website
Trish Scott
PhD Student, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL
Website
Nick Howard
Photographer
Website
Laura Thornley
Project Administrator, UAL
