Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing is an English conceptual artist and photographer born in 1963. She is most well-known for her 'Signs That Say What You Want Them To Say and Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say' work where she stopped hundreds of people across London and asked them to write whatever they wanted to on a piece of card and took their photo. The concept behind the project was to show the divide between someone's physical appearance and their inner thoughts. The signs vary from meaningful quotes and single words such as 'Me' or 'Help'. I really like how she has used the juxtaposition of the persons exterior with their inner self and I think it send across a powerful message that people should not be judged on how they look. One of the most contrasting images is a police officer holding the word 'Help'. This creates a sense of confusion between the role he plays and himself as we often associate the police with strength and being intimidating and fearless.
Another of her works titled 'Trauma' was a video where Wearing covered several speakers with masks while they spoke of their childhood traumas. I like how she uses the human-like mask to conceal the speaker and their true identity yet we still see them as a person. It creates this sense of fear of judgement as people use masks (both literally and metaphorically) to hide from society and the truth. This further leads to how people try and conceal and change their appearance as a way to hide from something they fear.
I want to experiment with using masks and other unconventional objects to conceal the face of myself and/or a model to 'hide behind' so as to show insecurity and create an uneasy feeling. I want my images to make someone stop and think as well as having to decipher the true meaning behind the photographs.
