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Gillian Wearing - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Gillian Wearing


The Whitechapel Gallery is having a good year. After the stunning Zarina Bhimji exhibition, they have now turned their attention to Gillian Wearing and a major international survey of the Turner Prize-winning British artist’s photographs and films which explore the public and private lives of ordinary people.
Fascinated by how people present themselves in front of the camera in fly on-the-wall documentaries and reality TV, Gillian Wearing explores ideas of personal identity through often masking her subjects and using theatrical staging techniques. For those who want to read more there is useful article here from Sunday’s Observer.
There will be an OCA study tour on Saturday 28 April which starts at 11am and is likely to last about two to three hours. We will have a tour of the exhibition with a member of the gallery staff and Clive White and I will be joining the study visit Places are free for OCA students and this visit is bound to be popular. To book your place, email enquiries@oca-uk.com


Posted by author: Genevieve Sioka

17 thoughts on “Gillian Wearing

    • Will be my second OCA study visit to the Whitechapel Gallery and am looking forward to it.
      The pub afterwards sounds good to me provided there is some food.

  • That’s a good idea Helen, wonder why no-one thought of it before:-) I’d join you but I’m not sure I can make it this time.

  • My first study visit! I’m looking forward to putting some faces to the names that have become so familiar over the past year.

  • Still dithering and over-awed by the huge talent I see constantly every time I open these mails. Can anyone
    encourage me, push me over the edge to join OCA?

    • Go on – do it!
      I’ll not kid you, you have to work at it and there’s ups and downs along the way, but the benefits make it all worth while. Even just doing a single unit like TAOP would give you an idea of where your photography could go, and this might not be where you would be expecting… And doing a single unit should be enough to get you bitten by the OCA bug!

    • It’s fantastic and I love it. You could try one course and come on some study trips – what have you got to lose? And after a downpayment you can pay the rest of the course in installments which is really helpful. It’s a lot like the OU but it’s smaller and much more friendly and supportive. I highly recommend it 🙂
      What are you interested in and have you studied art or photography before?

  • Gareth,
    I am looking forward to the OCA study visit to the Whitechapel Gallery later this month.
    My first knee-jerk reaction after hearing the discussion on the work of Gillian Wearing and looking through the web was that it was not my cup of tea.
    However, I had a similar reaction when confronted with the work of Zarina Bhimji at the same venue and soon changed my mind after my first study visit. With this artist/photographer I was stretched but gained an intimate appreciation of the works when looked at through her eyes/experiences during the periods involved.
    Gillian Wearing appears to present a work which is important though impersonal to her but very personal to her disguised subjects.
    I am looking forward to further opening my sceptical mind to a possible new experience on the 28th.
    Rgds

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