Curated by the Waterford Young Arts Critics

‘These days, the job of producing a self-portrait is no longer the sole preserve of artists. Selfies and online avatars abound. As a result, our interest in the images we make of ourselves and the self-images made by those around us has never been more acute. Never have more self-portraits been brought into being, or disseminated.’
– Cristín Leach Hughes

Garter Lane Arts Centre in partnership with the University of Limerick is delighted to present ‘At Face Value’, an exhibition of the National Self Portrait Collection curated by the Waterford Young Arts Critics.

Waterford Young Arts Critics is a youth arts collective which supports young people from 15- 18 years of age to participate in and contribute to the cultural life of the South East region by supporting their development as future cultural leaders. Since the establishment of the Waterford Young Arts Critics in 2013, the collective has led successful independent arts projects and collaborations, including curating exhibitions of the IMMA Collection, the Waterford Municipal Collection and the Arts Council Collection.

Waterford Young Arts Critics have worked collaboratively with professional writers, artists, theatre practitioners, photographers, curators and arts managers to examine critical concerns and personal understandings of selfhood through this unique collection of self portraiture that question the evolving nature of self representation and the implications of the projected self in a digital age. ‘At Face Value’ presents self portraits by over 20 artists in the National Self Portrait Collection including Dorothy Cross, James Hanley, Vera Klute, Brian Duggan and Una Sealy, exhibited alongside photographic and mixed media interventions developed by the Waterford Young Arts Critics.

This exhibition continues alongside Borderland/ Memento, a joint exhibition by artists Susanne Wawra and Joseph Heffernan.