Art theme: identity

Artists think carefully about how to express identity when constructing an image of a person, whether creating images of themselves or someone else. It's important to consider how to convey someone's personality and qualities, interests and beliefs in an artwork. How can an artist show the things that are important to that person? How can they help viewers gain a sense of their experiences, culture and background? 

Artists give viewers an insight into a person's unique identity in all manner of ways. For instance, in figurative art, artists may make use of features such as clothing, hairstyle and accessories, as well as facial expressions, gestures and pose. The objects and background they portray their subject with can also help to cast light on a person's identity.

Look, describe and discuss

Open larger images of the work, including close-ups of details, on the V&A Museum website. 

Ask your students to describe the artwork, encouraging them to simply say what they can see.

Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It's best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.

An audio description of the painting is available. It is accompanied by a full written transcript which can also be used to describe the painting.

Nudge questions

Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:

• What are your first impressions of the person in this painting?
• What do you notice about her clothes?
• Where do you think she is sitting for this painting?
• Do you notice anything unusual about the yellow wallpaper in the background?

Questions from The Superpower of Looking Kit

Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting.

For this artwork, you will focus on:

• Composition
• Figures
• Space

Ask your students to evidence their points:

• where exactly are they looking when they make a statement?
• can everybody see what they see?
• slow down, take time to really look closely

You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers while asking these bespoke questions with helpful responses which can be found in the teachers' notes.

Everyone learning

You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking^® SEND/ASD/ALN approach on the Superpower homepage.

Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.

Make

• Take inspiration from Kehinde Wiley’s elaborate patterned wallpaper in this painting. Students could design their own pattern with the William Morris Gallery’s Playing with Pattern resource.
• Invite students to draw their own portrait. How will they present themselves through the clothes they choose and the pose they strike? They may like to present their portraits against a background of their own wallpaper designs (see above).
  
  

Listen

• Listen to the audio description of the painting.

Touch

• Touch the textures shown in the painting: wood, various fabrics, a metal chain and rubber wristband. Which feel shiny, rough or smooth?
  
  

Move

• Explore sitting in different ways on your chair. In pairs, students could photograph the different poses. Which pose feels relaxed, proud or nervous? 
  
  

Communicate

• Learn the Makaton sign or British Sign Language for ‘yellow’. Try learning other colours too.
• What do you think it feels like to sit for a portrait? Invite students to share their ideas with a partner. You can read how Melissa Thompson felt in this article from the Hackney Citizen.

Final stage: review

Ask your students to:

• share their sketchbooks in groups and discuss the 'elements' they have identified
• choose an element/aspect they find most interesting about the artwork and record it in their sketchbooks
• choose their own name/s for the title of the artwork
• think of a question they would like to ask the artist

Congratulations!

You have now completed this lesson resource on The Superpower of Looking.