Elvis Presley. Nelson Mandela. Posh and Becks. When is a name more than a person? When does a person deserve A Name?
Name in Lights was a national competition with a glittering prize: the name of your choice spelt out in a giant illuminated sign in the centre of Birmingham. In a format familiar from TV talent shows, thousands of nominations were submitted from up and down the country and judged by a panel of experts. These experts all depend on celebrity for their livelihoods, so they were well poised to pick a new one.
The prize itself is the ultimate symbol of fame. To see your name in lights is the stuff of a million Hollywood dreams; it’s big, brash, visible and public, an unmissable symbol of Somebody Important.
But the range of entries shows that not everyone agrees on what makes someone deserving of this prize. Nominations ranged from famous figures, praised for past good deeds, to everyday people who simply like the way their name looks or sounds.
In the end, the judges didn’t pick a wannabe star. They chose someone who isn’t already famous and who never asked to be.
It serves as a reminder that fame isn’t an essential quality. No one is born ‘a star’; stars are made by their audience. In this case, the audience will gaze up at the sign and wonder what it means. Because, although Name in Lights seems to represent all the characteristics of fame, it stops short of the reality TV show, magazine interviews, paparazzi shots or perfume deal that are so much a part of contemporary celebrity.
Compared to other celebrities we know about, we know very little about this one. Perhaps, then, this isn’t really fame at all, and maybe that is the point. Now that the name is up in lights in a public space it’s up to us to decide what to make of it. Name in Lights removes the mundane surety of the endless mechanism of celebrity, and does something magical: it puts the mystery back into fame.
Name in Lights was a Fierce Festival commission by artist Joshua Sofaer. To read CJ White’s winning nomination of her mother’s name, as well as other entries to the competition, visit www.notcelebrity.co.uk
Text by Mary Paterson
Photograph by Chris Keenan