THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

Wearing stopped passers-by and asked them to write down what was on their mind.  With their permission, she photographed them holding their statement.  One of Wearing’s best known images depicts a smart young man with a mild, even complacent expression holding a sign saying simply, ‘I’m desperate’.  In a 1996 interview Wearing described how “People are still surprised that someone in a suit could actually admit to anything, especially in the early 1990s, just after the crash… I think he was actually shocked by what he had written, which suggests it must have been true.  Then he got a bit angry, handed back the piece of paper, and stormed off.”

Wearing/Desperate