Familiar Strangers

If you came across the person you think yourself to be in a dream, would you recognize yourself? Or would you be just be another familiar stranger?

On that note, who do you really think you are?

How much can we really understand about ourselves when everywhere we go we are followed by a blank blanket of mystery? How much can we really know about each other in an age where everyone can be anyone?

Why are we so eager to believe in the authenticity of a self-portrait? How often do we really speak the truth about ourselves, and how can we ever represent what we don’t really know? Why do we hardly assume that like anyone else, artists can be blind to themselves too?

The Vacant Museum’s upcoming online exhibition, Familiar Strangers will deconstruct everything we think we know about representing ourselves. We will ask both artists and viewers to question the concept of the self-portrait and to challenge their own understandings of themselves. We will see all reflections and representations of our identities for what they really are: familiar strangers.

By the time we are done collecting submissions, we will assemble a collection of faces from around the world and ask ourselves, “are any of these people really who they say they are?”

In order to be featured in the exhibition, all artists must answer the question, “who do you think you are?” upon submission of their self-portrait. This is both an opportunity to search for truth within yourself, or take advantage of an opportunity to construct an identity completely remote. No one will know the difference. No one will ever know the real you, not even yourself.

The Vacant Museum is calling for self-portraits from artists around the world. We invite artists of all media, with the exception of video, to submit and share their self-portraits and contribute to this international showcase!

Free Entry

Submission Deadline: 13 July 2021

Familiar Strangers Opens: 16 July 2021

Visit Website to submit!