‘I’m desperate’: how Gillian Wearing exposed our innermost thoughts

In the third of our new series about artworks by women that are relevant today, our writer looks at a series of photographs that revealed the worries of people facing an economic recession

A man in a suit holds up a sign saying: “I’m desperate”. A police officer’s sign says: “Help.” A man in jeans and a striped shirt asks: “Will Britain get through this recession?” Two beaming women write: “Best friends for life! Long live the two of us.” The couple standing on the side of the motorway each hold up a sign. The man’s reads: “I like to be in the country,” and the woman’s sign says: “The last holiday abroad was nice but I can’t afford it.”

In 1992-93, Gillian Wearing took her camera to the streets of London. She photographed passersby and asked them to write their innermost thoughts on a piece of white paper to hold up for her and us to see. The work, Signs That Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You to Say removes the veil between the things we think in private and the way society expects us to behave.

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