Taking Arnaud Maggs’s dramatic 48-part portrait of the Orford String Quartet as a starting point, Tracing Self and Other presents a selection of portraits and self-portraits from Agnes’s collection. This exhibition considers some of the ways we know (or fail to know) one another and ourselves, through a range of artist’s approaches to capturing those complicated points where cool perception, memory, incomprehension, passion and compassion collide.

Many of the subjects in Tracing Self and Other are creators: artists, writers and musicians. The exhibition conjures a sense of intimacy, especially in the self-portraits, which probe beneath the surface of appearance. In tone and style, the works range from the studied documentary style of Joseph Hartmans’s view of Tim Pitsiuluk in his studio to the lush, expressive narrative of Rebecca Soudant’s embroidered Tapestry of Birth. They hold in common a quality of interrogation. Together, this art raises questions about the how we value one another: how we celebrate, how we hurt, and how we heal. 

The featured works are by Stephen Andrews, Joseph Hartman, Daniel Hughes, York Lethbridge, Arnaud Maggs, Chris Miner, Allyson Mitchell and Deirdre Logue, Jamasie Padluk Pitseolak, Rebecca Soudant, Lisa Visser and Joyce Wieland.