The five best art events this September

1 DRAG: Self-portraits and Body Politics

With self-portraits dating from the 1960s to the present day, this free exhibition highlights artists who have used drag as a way of exploring and questioning identity, gender, class, politics and race. They include radical New York photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who turned his lens on himself in order to explore established ideas of femininity and masculinity in his own self-portraits, appearing in partial drag in one and as a swaggering leather-clad rocker in another.

Hayward Gallery, until 14 October

Image: Samuel Fosso Ulay, Self-Portrait, 2008. Jean Marc Patras, Paris 

2 Portrait of the Artist: Käthe Kollwitz

Prussian-born artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was celebrated for the emotional power of her work. Initially trained as a painter, from 1890 she focused entirely on etching and sculpture before moving on to lithography and woodcuts. She established herself in an art world dominated by men by concentrating on other working women and their experiences. This exhibition explores her work through her portraits of these women, as well as her self-portraits.

Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, until 30 September

Image: Francesca Woodman, Eel Series, Venice, Italy 1978

3 Life in Motion: Egon Schiele/Francesca Woodman

Ten years after its major exhibition of Gustav Klimt, Tate Liverpool turns the spotlight on one of his protégés, Egon Schiele, and the photography of Francesca Woodman. Using contrasting styles, both artists created portraits that searched beneath the surface to reveal their subjects’ inner feelings. Schiele’s quick marks and sharp lines capture his models’ energy, while Woodman’s long exposures create dreamy blurred images of extended moments.

Tate Liverpool, until 23 September

Image: Egon Schiele, Standing male figure (self-portrait) 1914. Photograph © National Gallery in Prague 2017 

4 Sussex Days: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm

Dorothy Bohm was famous for her portraiture and street photography of London, Paris and Moscow. Born in 1924, she first came to Sussex in 1939 to escape Nazi Europe. As he put her on the train, her father gave her his Leica camera. ‘This might come in useful some day,’ he told her. It would be 20 years before she would see her parents and baby sister again and could show them how right he was. These candid, often humorous black-and-white photographs of Sussex in the 1960s and 1970s capture a bygone era in the county she was so fond of, but where she never quite felt at home.

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, until 30 September

Image: Goodwood Races, Sussex, 1970s. Photo courtesy Dorothy Bohm 

5 Visaurihelix

There was heartbreak, again, for the city of Glasgow this year, as its School of Art went up in flames for the second time since 2014. The outpouring of grief is a testament to the passion that the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s work still inspires.

This year, to mark the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth, artist Louise Harris has taken over the tower of Glasgow’s gallery The Lighthouse – a building originally designed by Mackintosh for the Glasgow Herald.

Inspired by the geometry of his designs, this sound installation winds around the spiral staircase; a giant glockenspiel chiming over a pulsing electronic soundscape. Come and discover the man who gave us ‘The Glasgow Style’, as you’ve never known him before.

The Lighthouse, Glasgow, until 1 January 2019

Image: Visaurihelix, photo by Neil Jarvie