Art and Design Key Stage 4

Do siblings/ best friends help you out or get you into more trouble?

Start with a wider discussion about the portrayals of siblings in art, like the Cholmondeley sisters in the activity above and more recently, Gillian Wearing’s photograph of her sister Self Portrait as My Sister Jane Wearing.

This could lead into further discussion about changing identity: at school, within the family unit and within peer groups.

Using stills from the opera, students could explore and experiment with media, either with embroidery or drawing surfaces and ink.

• Both Loui Jover and Julie Sarloutteuse close up film stills as the starting point for their work in contrasting media.
• Students could choose two images below to recreate using newspaper and black ink and another with embroidery; they could directly embroider over the photograph if it were enlarged.

Homework/Extension

Inspired by Nicholas Nixon’s portfolio of photographs of the Brown Sisters, taken every year for forty years, students could find an old family photograph of siblings/ parents/ grandparents.

• Next, take another photograph of the same family members in the same positions or order to document how they have changed.
• It would also be a great opportunity to discuss the changes brought about by digital photography and smartphones as some students might find it difficult to find printed photos at home. If this is the case, they could ask a parent/ carer to print one out from social media sites.