From prescient proto-selfies to COVID and AI: the democratic
portraiture of Gillian Wearing
One of the most influential conceptual artists of her generation,
Gillian Wearing first gained recognition in the 1990s for groundbreaking
photographs and videos that recorded the confessions and interactions of
ordinary people she befriended through chance encounters. In its candor
and psychological intensity, her work extends the traditions of
portraiture initiated by Sander, Weegee and Arbus. Yet in her ongoing
attention to technology's role in the presentation of self, Wearing has
presciently identified defining aspects of contemporary visual culture,
from reality television to the rise of the selfie.
Published for Wearing's first North American retrospective, Gillian
Wearing: Wearing Masks traces the acclaimed artist's practice from her
earliest Polaroids and videos to her most recent production, including
large-scale photographic self-portraits of Wearing in the guise of other
artists; a more intimate body of self-portraits titled Lockdown; and
installations and commissioned public sculpture. Essays by co-curators
Jennifer Blessing and Nat Trotman provide an overview of Wearing's
oeuvre, and a "self-interview" by Wearing offers a revealing firsthand
account of the artist's practice, including her ongoing project Your
Views (2013-), in which she has recently responded to the COVID-19
pandemic, and her exploration of AI technology in the video work
Wearing, Gillian (2018).
Gillian Wearing (born 1963) became associated with the Young British
Artists (YBAs) after graduating from Goldsmiths College in 1990, and
went on to win the Turner Prize in 1997. She works equally in
photography, video, sculpture, installation and, most recently,
painting. Wearing became well known early on for her now-landmark piece
Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what
someone else wants you to say (1992-93), for which she photographed
almost 200 strangers with placards of their own making.
