At the very last minute, I managed to get across to the National Portrait Gallery to see Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun: Behind the Mask, Another Mask which ended yesterday, 29 May 2017.
The NPG described the exhibition:
“Under this mask, another mask. I will never finish removing all these faces.”
Claude Cahun, 1930
This exhibition brings together for the first time the work of French artist Claude Cahun and British contemporary artist Gillian Wearing. Although they were born almost seventy years apart and came from different backgrounds, remarkable parallels can be drawn between the two artists. Both of them share a fascination with the self-portrait and use the self-image, through the medium of photography, to explore themes around identity and gender, which is often played out through masquerade and performance.
Not wanting to get in too deep here but I found it to be a fascinating and thought provoking exhibition about how we see and present ourselves to others. Worth some exploration, maybe?
As I mentioned, it’s too late to see the exhibition now but, If you are interested and unaware of these artists, do click across to the articles linked below, or hit Google, to read more:
Claude Cahun: A Very Curious Spirit – from Another Magazine
Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun: Behind the Mask, Another Mask – a review of the exhibition from The Guardian.
I love art that makes you think, don’t you? 🖤
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