GILLIAN WEARING, ALBUM, 2003

The mask occupies a central place in the videos and photographs of Gillian Wearing. Wearing has employed various kinds of masks—from literal disguises to voice dubbing—to conceal the physical identities of her subjects and allow them to reveal their innermost secrets. Often this has entailed surprising leaps in age: In one video, adult actors lip-synch the audio-recorded confessions of adolescents; in another, adults wearing plastic masks of generic children divulge traumatic experiences from their youths. For her Album series in 2003, Wearing adapted this strategy to a more autobiographical end. Donning silicon prosthetics, she meticulously reconstructed old family snapshots, transforming herself into her mother, father, uncle, and brother as young adults or adolescents. Wearing plays on the rift between interior and exterior and raises a multitude of provocative questions about identity, memory, and the veracity of the photographic medium. - Guggenheim