Sonia Boyce

*The Audition*, 2018. 394 black and white photographs, mounted. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery, UK, 2018. Photo: Mike Pollard. Courtesy TATE Collection

*The Audition*, 2018. 394 black and white photographs, mounted. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery, 2018. Photo: Mike Pollard. Courtesy TATE Collection

The Audition is an installation comprising of 394 black and white photographs, each measuring thirty by twenty centimetres, mounted on and cased in aluminium. The photographs are mostly head shots of individuals that fill the whole frame; some images are double portraits and a small number portray three or even four individuals posing together in the same shot. The photographs are installed alongside name plates, usually recording the first name and surname of each individual, apart from two group portraits collectively identified as ‘Cornerhouse staff’ and ‘Cornerhouse technicians’. Up to fifteen photographs of each person are installed together, in rows of three. Some of the photographs show the sitter with his or her natural hair, while in others the same sitter is wearing a synthetic, short curly Afro wig. The installation can take different configurations, spanning seventeen metres across when all 394 photographs are displayed.

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The making of The Audition took place in 1997 at Cornerhouse (now called HOME), a centre for the contemporary visual arts in Manchester. The work was realised during Boyce’s tenure as Manchester University’s first artist-in-residence, from January 1997 to April 1998, in collaboration with the Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA), the North West Arts Board and Cornerhouse. The artist placed an advertisement in the Cornerhouse publicity brochure for the months of October and November 1997. The advertisement, which invited people to come to Cornerhouse, wear a wig and be photographed, came under the playful banner: ‘Have you ever thought that your face was a work of art? Then read on …’. Over eighty people responded to the advert and over fifty attended on the day. On 18 November 1997 all attendees were invited to wear one of four wigs and were photographed with and without the wig. That day Boyce took over 900 photographic portraits. Out of these, she selected and printed 394 photographs, which comprise the complete installation.