When artists turn their gaze to themselves, what do they examine? How do they express what makes up their sense of self? Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University Foundations Students explore these questions in their spring 2025 Investigating Identity Exhibit, on view from March 29-May 3, 2025.

The exhibition challenges students to reinvent (or elaborate upon) the traditional self-portrait, investigating identity through a variety of materials and forms.

Works could define identity through ideas of demographics like race, gender, religion, nationalism, and others. Students are also encouraged to explore their identity’s evolution as they have grown as artists, and through more abstract understandings of identity, like community, culture, interests, and perspective.

A reception will be held on April 12, 2025, from 6-8 pm, and is open to the public. Join students, staff, and faculty from George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College for refreshments and the juror awards ceremony.