The present lot is comprised of five works from Gillian Wearing’s series, Signs that Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You to Say, 1992-1993. For the project, Wearing asked a cross-section of London’s populace to write down an inner thought or feeling and then pose with the text held in front of them, thereby publicizing the personal. Aesthetically, the images are reminiscent of a quick snapshot – however, this understated stylistic choice is purposeful. The casualness of the visual heightens the audience’s experience of reading each participant’s emotionally vulnerable handwritten text. In certain portraits, the appearance or expression of the subject seems nearly antithetical to what they have written, particularly evident in Help where it is a police officer that holds up the unlikely phrase. Other pictures, such as More love and Come back Mary Love you Get back Mary illustrate each subject’s yearning for intimacy, not otherwise apparent. By collaborating with the public to incorporate diaristic statements, Wearing complicates the traditional documentary relationship between subject and photographer, infusing within the field themes of likeness, desire for connection, and staging, all of which remain integral to Wearing’s current practice. Conceptualized prior to the advent of social media, Wearing’s work rings particularly true in the current moment where self-representation and authenticity are key points of cultural discourse.
