‘I signed on and they would not give me nothing’ 1992 - 1993

Curator: Gillian Wearing's photographic piece, ‘I signed on and they would not give me nothing’, captures a stark moment of social commentary. Editor: Immediately, I see a figure isolated against a tiled wall, the 'No Smoking' sign looming almost like a judgement. The handwritten message adds a rawness. Curator: Wearing’s work often engages with marginalized voices. This image, with its direct plea, underscores systemic failures and the individual's struggle within bureaucratic structures. Consider the politics of visibility at play. Editor: The averted gaze and the stark lettering, almost childlike, convey vulnerability. It’s a powerful, if bleak, distillation of helplessness that speaks to something very ancient. Curator: Absolutely. The image implicates us, the viewers, forcing us to confront uncomfortable truths about social inequality and the precarity of existence for so many. Editor: A sobering, important reminder. The symbols here – the sign, the written words – coalesce into a potent image of modern alienation.