Whitechapel Gallery

Eileen Perrier

04 Aug - 20 Sep 2009

© Eileen Perrier
Portraits from The Street, 2008
EILEEN PERRIER
"Wentworth Street Studios"

4 August-20 September 2009
Outset Project Gallery (Gallery 5) & 176/Zabludowicz Collection Project Gallery (Gallery 6)

In August 2008, artist Eileen Perrier set up a portable photographic studio on a market stall in Petticoat Lane Market and in the nearby Denning Point tower block. Working with a headrest device, a 5x4 inch large format camera and black and white Polaroid instant film, Perrier invited local residents, market traders, city workers and passers-by to pose for portraits. Perrier’s photography frequently explores notions of community and identity.
Perrier comments, ‘This has come about through my family background. Being of Ghanaian and Dominican descent, I have been presented with questions about placement, cultural identity and diversity.’
Perrier’s portraits celebrate individuality within the framework of often coincidental common ground. Full of empathy, they probe into the ways we construct public and private identities, or how others construct them for us.
This project is part of The Street — a year-long series of artists’ commissions on and around Wentworth Street.

Admission free

Supported by:

The Street is supported by J.P. Morgan through the J.P. Morgan Art of Learning programme.