ALISON JACKSON

Alison Jackson has photographed the Queen of England on the toilet, GeorgeBush and Tony Blair chatting in the sauna, Mick Jagger doing gymnastics,and Monica Lewinsky lighting Bill Clinton's cigar. Or has she? Thelikenesses are uncanny, but of course, her subjects are look-alikes. Herphotos demonstrate that while seeing is believing, the truth is anotherstory entirely. In her work, Jackson says, "Likeness becomes real andfantasy touches on the believable. The viewer is suspended in disbelief. Itry to highlight the psychological relationship between what we see andwhat we imagine. This is bound up in our need to look—ourvoyeurism—and our need to believe." Indeed, by showing "celebrities"ostensibly caught unawares, Jackson's pictures show us what we imaginemight go on behind closed doors. Jackson's work causes controversy,because it threatens to cross the line between the private and public lifeof our contemporary icons. Because we unquestioningly accept theauthenticity of the photograph, it would appear that we are being given aglimpse of something confidential, a private moment. It is only uponcloser examination that we question the reality of the image, andhopefully this makes us question our unwitting tendency to believeeverything we see in the media today. For this edition, Jackson has been commissioned to shoot a broadselection of new portraits of dead-ringers for Brad Pitt and AngelinaJolie, George Bush, J. Lo, Eminem, Britney Spears, Jude Law, NicoleKidman, Tom Cruise, and many more. Expect the unexpected!