The reading on Gillian Wearing was really interesting and made me question what it meant to have your secrets recorded on video the way they were in Confess. As a viewer it awakens questions of stereotypes and honesty but what relevance does it hold for the person who confessed? Their ideas are being shared with the world honestly. Is this freeing or disconcerting to them in this society? Did these people regret saying things to the camera to be permanently stored?

I love the idea of art as a storehouse for collective memories! It is obvious that this idea began in the beginning of time when people began using images to mark places they have been before language. They knew that by using artistic depiction their ideas would remain forever for people to see and learn from. These ideas were then exemplified in portraits in paint and sculpture and all the while the artist had in mind how people would interpret this in the future. You can see this in works like Colossal Head of Constantine the Great where his image has been altered so that people remember him as looking godly verse realistic. I am not sure when artists started depicting the neglected subjects, people like the Wright Brothers from the Medieval period began painting people in the lower ranks of society. Through out history I am sure that there have been people who have looked to depict these people and places but may not have made to full recognition.

Once photography was invented more true to life depictions of the neglected subjects were produced and this changed the idea of art as a storehouse in my opinion because now people knew they were seeing the truth and those neglected would never be forgotten. I think this was most evident in Diane Arbus’s work which brought the neglected parts of society to people’s attention in the most direct way possible. These people will never be forgotten because they will remain in photographs forever to challenge people’s ideas of stereotypes.