Claire Marie Healy

This catalogue explores girlhood and the beautiful, complex and emotional journey of growing up. It examines various societal, social, and sartorial expectations and realities that shape the teenage years. GIRLS is an interdisciplinary project, bringing together visual artists, fashion designers, stylists and filmmakers. The book and the accompanying exhibition in MoMu Antwerp is created in conversation with teenagers and is inclusive of LGBTQI+ youth. GIRLS features work by artists such as Roni Horn, Robert Gober, Meret Oppenheim, Iris Häussler, Louise Bourgeois, Nathanaëlle Herbelin, Alice Neel, Maya Man, Polina Osipova…

Experiences of girlhood are shaped by art and visual culture as much as they are represented by them. Claire Marie Healy explores this relationship, guiding us through the making and meaning of girlhood in Britain's national collection of art. She traces the journey of 'the girl' in art, from a silent subject of portraiture to a self-expressive creator of self-portraiture. By studying the images that are made, collected, and shared by teenage girls today, Look Again: Girlhood invites us to re-address patriarchal art historical narratives and explore diverse contemporary expressions of girlhood/s — both in the gallery space, and on our screens. Look Again is a new series of short books, opening up the conversation about British Art over the last 500 years, and exploring what art has to tell us about our lives today. Written by leading voices from the worlds of literature, politics and culture, each book sheds new light on some of the most well-known, best-loved and thought-provoking artworks in the national collection, and asks us to look again.