20 years ago Quay Arts, the Isle of Wight’s arts centre, mounted an exhibition called ‘My Millennium’ featuring 13,626 self-portraits of Island children and young people. Now, with the Island in lockdown, Quay Arts are reviving this idea with an exhibition called Breakout!
Islanders of all ages are being invited to submit a self-portrait, in any medium, with the only restriction being that it must be 10cm x 10cm – as the original portraits were. Contributors are also being asked to answer ‘What’s at the end of your rainbow?’ – a few words to say what Breakout! means to them.
The original exhibition became so big that it ended up in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest collection of self-portrait ever.
As a self-financed charity, Quay Arts relies on income from trading activities to bring the arts to Islanders. The organisation is asking for a donation of £1 from every person or household that takes part. If you can’t donate, you can still enter anyway, just for the fun of it!
It’s unclear when the exhibition will be able to go live but Quay Arts are looking forward to welcoming Islanders back to Newport Harbour.
To submit your self-portrait, simply fill in an entry form, upload your image and hit send – http://www.quayarts.org/quay-arts-the-isle-of-wights-arts-centre/breakout/.
A selection on submitted entries will be displayed on an online gallery each week, up until the exhibition can be erected in the West Gallery.
This exhibition is being supported by Arts Council England.
