Hanging on the walls of galleries around the world are hundreds of works titled Portrait of A Girl. But what is the purpose of a Portrait of A Girl? What should she do and who is she for? These are the questions that writer Claire Marie Healy explores in Girlhood.

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.