Join us at Left Bank for a super special Culture Club on Wednesday the 10th of Jan we will be kicking off our 2024 creative year with bang 🌟🎨 as we launch our first Exhibition of the year '#Rebel Selves' by local artist Dawn Woolley!

The #Rebel Selves installation is something between a stage set for an absurdist play, a hall of mirrors, and an exploded 3-dimensional photograph. Masks, garments, and props scatter the space, inviting visitors to play different characters and create queer selfies.

Selfies are an important form of self-expression because they enable marginalised people not represented on mainstream media to be visible, build communities, and support each other. However, they are expected to conform to binary gender and other beauty ideals. Research shows that people who don’t conform experience more hostility online. #Rebel Selves explores creative methods that could be used when taking selfies in order to avoid some of these problems.

In the porch gallery space, Woolley will show a series of self-portrait photographs inspired by an advert for L’Oreal makeup featuring Barbara Palvin wearing a belt of selfie-sticks and mobile phones photographing her from all angles. Palvin says ‘I may not be infallible, but I’m always selfie ready’ and a voiceover says ‘you can be selfie ready from any angle, 24 hours a day’. My #Rebel self-portraits do not put me in the centre of a disciplining gaze of cameras, instead I become visually entangled – a glitchy apparition that is hard to pin down. During the exhibition Woolley will create new self-portraits in the installation and share them online using #RebelSelves and #RebelSelfie.

Join us for the launch of this exhibition from 6:30pm till late. Woolley will also be inviting you to a informal talk about her exhibition at 7:30pm.

If you can't make the launch and plan on visiting the exhibition, please check our calendar before visiting as we are often closed for private events over the weekends.

COMING UP!

During the exhibition Woolley will also be hosting an free interactive workshop. This workshop encourages playing with gender through character development and collage. The workshop, designed to span approximately 1.5 to 2 hours, will begin with a brief introduction to the installation project. Participants will then make and model wearable collages / masks. If they want to, they can take creative selfies in the installation and share them on social media using #RebelSelves and #RebelSelfie. The workshop will end with an experimental communal selfie shoot. Participants do not have to participate in all the activities. It is suitable for ages and does not require any previous collage or self-portraiture experience. RESERVE YOUR TICKETS HERE!

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This exhibition has been supported by Left Bank Leeds, Arts Council England and Leeds Arts University.