The use and manipulation of the artist’s own image has become prevalent in contemporary art across the Asian region: Beyond the self: Contemporary portraiture from Asia explores the representation of the self in current South and Southeast Asian visual art practice.

The contemporary world for these artists is one of increased global awareness, mobility and altered economic and technological possibilities, providing the impetus to use self-portraiture to navigate between new and existing cultural boundaries, and challenge traditional positioning of identity.

Bringing together painting, photography, sculpture, drawing, installation and media works, Beyond the self looks at the transformative possibility of portraiture through art from the early 2000s to the present, created by artists from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.