Gillian Wearing is a mixture between live art and photography. One of her most well known pieces of work is Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say. This consists of a series of photographs, each showing a member of the public who Wearing had stopped on the street and got to spontaneously write something down on a piece of paper. Wearing then photographed the people holding the paper. Some of the results are a little surprising: a smart young man dressed in a business suit holds a sign which reads "I'm desperate", while a police officer has written the single word "Help!". In Wearing's words, "A great deal of my work is about questioning handed-down truths".
Wearing uses techniques of documentary and photography, film and television to frame the concerns, words and actions of ordinary people. As well as these pieces which concentrate on individuals, Wearing has made pieces that concentrate on groups of people. One, Sixty Minute Silence (1996) is a video of people dressed in police uniforms sitting as if for a group photograph for an hour. Their initial stillness eventually gives way to fidgeting. Her film Drunk (2000) is of four drunk men staggering around a studio.
In response to her work we went out in groups into Selhurst and spontaneously asked people to write down anything they felt like writing down. A lot of people we asked did not want to participate in the art experiment however those who did provided interesting responses. Some wrote what they were doing, others wrote how they were feeling, some political statements, while others wrote random words.
Wearing uses techniques of documentary and photography, film and television to frame the concerns, words and actions of ordinary people. As well as these pieces which concentrate on individuals, Wearing has made pieces that concentrate on groups of people. One, Sixty Minute Silence (1996) is a video of people dressed in police uniforms sitting as if for a group photograph for an hour. Their initial stillness eventually gives way to fidgeting. Her film Drunk (2000) is of four drunk men staggering around a studio.
In response to her work we went out in groups into Selhurst and spontaneously asked people to write down anything they felt like writing down. A lot of people we asked did not want to participate in the art experiment however those who did provided interesting responses. Some wrote what they were doing, others wrote how they were feeling, some political statements, while others wrote random words.
I found the responses interesting and amusing and were I to do this again in a different area I feel the responses would be different. I really enjoyed this piece of live art and enjoyed the play between live and actual art.
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