Self Portrait at 17-Years-Old (2003)

Currently the Whitechapel Gallery is exhibiting the work of renowed Turner Prize winner Gillian Wearing (b. Birmingham, 1963). In her work Wearing explores the threshold between the public and private self.

10-16 (1997)

The exhibition starts with an installation of several of her video works, such as the brilliant 10-16. In this video seven adults lip synch the voices and act out the physical tics of seven children aged 10 to 16. A Danny DeVito lookalike perfectly mimics the enthusiasm of the recorded audio of the 10-year-old’s, while other actors capture the existential angst of the older boys and girls. The result is as humorous as it is alienating.

Bully, 2010

Another very striking videowork is Bully. It is a very powerful staged re-enactment in which a young lad recalls a traumatic scene from his youth, being bullied in the park. Acting as the director, he casts several volunteers in the archetypical roles of bully and bystander. During the enactment, a shift occurs: for a moment the director seems to believe he is actually reliving his memory, and turns on the actors who are playing the bullies.

I’m desperate (1992-3)

Other highlights include Wearing’s iconic 1992 series, Signs that say what you want them to say, and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say where strangers are offered paper and pen to communicate their message. Wearing first attracted public acclaim exhibiting this very series of photographs, in a small artist-run gallery in London in 1993. In a busy area of South London Wearing stopped passers-by to ask them to write down what was on their mind. She then photographed them holding this statement.

The series, which holds over fifty colour photographs was shot in early nineties and refers to the economic decline in Britain around that time, which becomes very clear with statements such as ‘Will Britain get through this recession?’ Another photograph of a homeless man states: ‘I signed on and they would give me nothing’. Nowadays these statement seems all but outdated.

The Signs series, as Wearing states, ‘interrupts the logic of photo-documentary and snapshot photography by the subjects’ clear collusion and engineering of their own representation.’ This is especially true for the photographs with the more loaded statements, such as the well-known photograph of the lawyer that says ‘I’m desperate’. This shows all too well how big the contrast can be between our public and our private self.

Other aspects of the exhibition are Wearing’s selfportraits wearing masks,  such as the Selfportrait at 17 pictured above, as well as video confessions of current or past wrongdoings by masked volunteers. The exhibition itself is rather well set up, and

Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High Street
London E1 7QX 

Open Tuesday-Sunday 11AM-6PM (9PM on Fridays)

Tickets:
£9.50/7.50 concessions (incl. Gift Aid donation)
£8.50/6.50 (excl. Gift Aid)

All images courtesy of the artist.