This was the first time I had seen Wearing's work in a gallery environment, or really had an opportunity to grasp any themes of her practice. Wearing uses performance, film and photography to explore themes of identity. In the video, '10-16' (1997), a strange juxtaposition is created as adult actors lip sync to the recordings of children voicing truths about themselves. The recordings of the children's voices are quite harrowing in some instances, a voice of the a 14 year old boy describes his addiction to alcohol for example, read by a gruff looking, grey haired man sitting in front of a council block. Later a woman sits on a bay window sill and is synced with the well spoken voice of a younger girl who declares she has, "nothing to worry about really". Differences in the stories and the scenes in which the actors are placed depict differences in class and the futures suggested for each. Juxtaposition of human appearance can be seen in other works, such as a series of self portraits of the artist masked up as family members and influential artists, but in works like,
'Signs that say what you want them to say, and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say' (1992), personal identity is explored on a spontaneous level. Photographs are presented, of people on the streets of London, holding signs upon which they have written as the title suggests. The relationship between the physical and literal expression of the sign creates an interesting insight into the life of these strangers. I also found feelings of nostalgia in the locations and with the use of film which can often be found in artist retrospectives of this era. Wearing placed an advert in a local newspaper which explained, 'Confess all on video.Don't worry, You Will Be in Disguise. Intrigued?Call Gillian....' (1994), attracting some stories comparable to those in the earlier described pieces. Even though they were wearing masks, in some cases, the participants were clearly upset, at which point I wondered if I had seen the first error in Wearings exploration of identity, the comedy masks used only made me feel as if a joke was being made and some sort of attempted therapy had failed. The art of Gillian Wearing looks at dark sides to life, meaning a gallery full of her work may not bring happiness but it definitely raises important questions on the subjects she is tackling, perhaps leaving viewers with a brighter outlook after seeing problems others have to deal and that they are either better off, or have someone to relate to.
