Gillian Wearing came to art late. Dropping out of school at 16 years old, she ended up working as a film animator’s assistant before enrolling at London’s Chelsea College of Art at age 21, before studying at Goldsmiths College. In 1997, the British video artist won the Turner Prize, and her work featured in the milestone Saatchi show Sensation alongside her ‘Young British Artist’ peers Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Jake and Dinos Chapman. For NOWNESS, Wearing resurfaced a never-before-seen film from 1994, “Rehearsing for Peckham,” which preceded her breakthrough work “Dancing in Peckham.”Two decades years later, following the furore of the YBAs and the legacy of her exceptional confessional work, the grainy VHS-captured performance resonates with today’s DIY digital voyeurists. Below she explains the story behind it.

“I like the piece because it was not meant to be something that I would show anyone. It may look like I am having a private moment as I am rehearsing, but that was intentional as I wanted to look as if I was dancing in my bedroom in Peckham. There is a bit of paradox there. You can see I wasn't really caring about the camera, hence when I hurt my finger I stop and look at it without thinking of the performance. When I look at the work now it feels like a film on YouTube, although a lot of those are more self-conscious as they are filmed with an audience in mind.”