EALING artists from the South Acton estate are among a group of young people exhibiting their work at the National Portrait Gallery.

Chasing Mirrors is an exhibition of new work exploring alternative forms of self-representation and portraiture by contemporary artist Faisal Abdu’Allah and the Chasing Mirrors Collective, a group of young people from Arabic-speaking communities in Ealing, Brent, and Barnett.

Avoiding convention, the finished works show differences and similarities between members of the Chasing Mirrors Collective and the audience in multi-dimensional portraits. The exhibition marks the start of a three-year project at the Gallery thanks to funding from John Lyon’s Charity.

It includes large-scale composite photographs, three constantly changing plasma screens, still-lives of personal objects and textual portraits. The plasma screens show portraits of the individuals from the Collective that change every few seconds.

This work encapsulates the idea of the exhibition title Chasing Mirrors: the pursuit of the impossible single defining portrait. Tallo, a community centre on the South Acton Estate which works with the Somali Community including asylum seekers and refugees is an intriguing feature.

* National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London. The exhibition, which has just opened, is on until January 10. Free admission. Opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm General information: 020 7306 0055 Website: www.npg.org.uk