I See You Like This
Jessica Wilson
Presented by Arts House at Queensberry Cup
Saturday 18 October
1pm – 5pm
Tickets
FREE
Warnings
This work will take place in a marquee on Queensberry Street in front of Arts House as part of the Queensberry Cup Street Festival. The street festival may be crowded and noisy, with announcements and performances taking place nearby. This work is undercover and will go ahead regardless of wet weather.
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St,
North Melbourne
Wheelchair Accessible
Quiet Space Available
Assistance Animal
Visual Rating 75%Become the subject of your child’s imagination with an artwork that uses your face as their canvas!
Look this way. Look natural. With our ever-growing desire to document each moment of our lives, children often become the reluctant subject of their parent’s camera.
I See You Like This turns the camera back and allows children to see their parents as subjects through the lens of their own imaginations.
Children are given permission to observe and portray their parent, while parents can experience being ‘seen’ by their child. Each child artist chooses an object, which best represents their adult, before directing a creative portrait directly onto their adult’s face. Each artwork is captured by a professional photographer and becomes part of a public exhibition.
I See You Like This is an acclaimed interactive art experience created by Jessica Wilson with designer Matilda Woodroofe that celebrates the fascinating relationship at the heart of individual identity between parent and child. The work has toured Australia and Europe amassing a collection of nearly 2000 portraits.
About the artist
Jessica Wilson is an Australian leader and innovator in participative art. She creates unusual experiences that turn ordinary people and places into extraordinary public outcomes. Jessica is internationally recognised for her concepts, with I See You Like This touring Australia and Europe and amassing a collection of over 2000 portraits.
Jessica is also known for her acclaimed works onboard buses which frame cities as the sites for new stories. Passenger for adults, was remapped onto London for the 2019 GREENWICH AND DOCKLANDS FESTIVAL and then Sydney for ART&ABOUT. Her first bus-based project for family audiences, The Narrator was created in Latvia and played at Adelaide's DreamBIG this year as a feature of the Australian Performing Arts Market. She hopes her new digital project Child Nation will enable kids all over the world to interact in new ways with their own people and places.
Artist statement
As adults we can be unaware of how much we mediate the world for our children. We are so engaged with shaping, guiding and protecting them. This experience is a rare opportunity to let go, and in the process see how our kids might see us. Their portraits are a rich celebration of their relationship with you, their adult, and at the same time, each image speaks so strongly to the generous surrender of parent to child.
I love this project. I have worked with so many different parents and children and never tire of the beautiful bond between them and the subversive creations of the children.
- Jessica Wilson
Artistic credits
Photographer: Carla Gottgens
Presented by Arts House at Queensberry Cup
Saturday 18 October
1pm – 5pm
Tickets
FREE
Warnings
This work will take place in a marquee on Queensberry Street in front of Arts House as part of the Queensberry Cup Street Festival. The street festival may be crowded and noisy, with announcements and performances taking place nearby. This work is undercover and will go ahead regardless of wet weather.
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St,
North Melbourne
Wheelchair Accessible Quiet Space Available Assistance Animal Visual Rating 75%
I See You Like This was developed through City of Melbourne’s Artplay New Ideas Lab.
Image credit: Jessica Wilson
Image description: Two adults are having their faces decorated with props by young children.
