Jessie Brennan

43 Strangers is a video and drawing installation derived from a drawing performance at a market location in London, in which the encounter between artist and 'sitter' is explored. During the performance I invited members of the public to draw my portrait while I drew theirs, looking directly at each other and without looking at our paper. A series of videoed portraits record the intimacy exchanged between strangers, occurring as a result of the drawing process. The work investigates the nature of public and private space, challenging expectations of accepted social interaction through an invitation to engage the gaze.