“Self-portraits have been a method of self-exploration since human beings first gazed at their own reflection in a pool of water. Along art history the construction of a self-portrait has been a cathartic process that reveals both new insights about artists themselves and their work.”
The Self-Portraits Project is a Alicia Candiani´s original idea and ´ace’s exciting venture! This five years (2006-2011) collaborative international project explores the form in which many artists decide to represent themselves, offering insights into their lives, surroundings, and even their political and personal concerns while addressing controversial issues including sexual identity, the ageing process, the construction of gender and stereotypes, the importance of clothing and the significance of depicting oneself alongside other people. Today, the project involves 11 nationalities, 6 countries, 8 sessions hosted by major artistic institutions, 5 languages and more than 90 pieces, in which worldwide artists have been working with digital media and various printmaking techniques as well as hand interventions and folded papers.
Alicia Candiani, as project director, travels and works with artists and students from diverse races, ages and latitudes as well in different stages of their artistic careers. Each group produces a set of self-portraits including Alicia’s portrait who continues to develop a self-portrait in each of the places that she travels. Sessions have also co-directors, usually an artist from the host institution. In addition, there are some guest artists who have not participated in the sessions but have been invited to join the project.
The Kansas City Session (September-October 2011, 8th Session) hosted by the Kansas City Art Institute, is the last of a series that started in 2006 at the Pilar i Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca (1st Session:September/06) and the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca Campus (2nd Session: October/06) both in Spain. In June 2007 the 3rd Session took place in Buenos Aires city at Proyecto´ace. The Fourth Session was at Grafikens Hus in Mariefred, Sweden in October/November 2007 while the Fifth Session took place in Atelier Presse Papier, Trois Rivieres, Canada in September 2008. The Sixth Session was hosted by the Atelier Livre and the 23 Cidade de Porto Alegre Art Festival in Porto Alegre, Brazil during July 2009 and the 7th Session was developed at MTG Gallery in collaboration with University of Alaska in Anchorage, Alaska during October 2010.
Finally, all the pieces have been put together creating a large installation of self-portraits that is being exhibited and will travel back to each of the places in which the project took place along 2011-2012. The exhibition will explore the diversity of the image through which the artists are represented with the aim to bring artists’ own images together from across races, ages, gender and places within the tradition and innovation of contemporary printmaking. The first venue has been the Exhibition Center Raymond-Lasnier at the Culture House of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada from October 23 to November 20, 2011. After that, the exhibition will travel to the International Gallery atAnchorage,Alaskain January 2012.