Inspired by documentaries, reality television and the performative nature of identity, British artist Gillian Wearing describes her approach to photography and video as “editing life”. Presented for PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography, Wearing turns the lens on herself to contemplate the nature of ageing in the contemporary world.
After asking collaborators to imagine how she might look aged 70, Wearing used artificial intelligence and age-processing tools to depict her possible future selves. Printed on wallpaper, these huge self-portraits highlight the unpredictability of time, revealing the limitations of what we believe to be pioneering technology and further emphasising the uncertainty of what lies ahead.
On-screen we meet a series of strangers who appear to look like the artist. Collaborating with advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, Wearing used deepfake technology to map her own face onto volunteers who replied to a newspaper ad. The film asks us to question the tensions of living in an increasingly media-saturated world and how reality can be easily distorted.
In this video, Nat Trotman, Curator, Performance and Media, reflects on Gillian Wearing’s career and how masks serve as both literal props and metaphors for the performances each of us stage every day via Guggenheim Museum.
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