Critical Writing Index

Gillian Wearing, private I

by Nancy Princenthal

Art in America, Mar. 2003, v. 91, no. 3, pp. 100-105

This article is a critical review of Gillian Wearing's exhibition entitled "Mass Observation" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (Oct 2002 - Jan 2003).

A thorough, insightful analysis of portrait photographs and video installations in a Gillian Wearing survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Wearing's first U.S. museum show probes the meaning of self-disclosure and reveals facets of social identity and psychological complexity through works largely informed by documentary practice.

In her first U.S museum show, Wearing investigates the complexities of identity, probing the "truth" of self-disclosure, via portrait photographs and videos that employ masks, overdubbing and lip-synching video installations.

ITEM 2003.102 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

Self-PortraitGillian Wearing

2 into 1Gillian Wearing

TraumaGillian Wearing

Signs That Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You To SayGillian Wearing

Sixty Minute SilenceGillian Wearing

DrunkGillian Wearing

10-16Gillian Wearing

Broad StreetGillian Wearing

7 UpMichael Apted

Paul Watson

The FamilyFranc Roddam

Richard Billingham

Tracey Emin