- Una White
Una White (died April 1997, aged 58) was an ordinary citizen of
Birmingham ,England . She achieved posthumous notability when her name was placed, in 12-foot high illuminated lettering, onBirmingham Central Library as an art installation byJoshua Sofaer , part of the city'sFierce! festival. The sign was illuminated on17 May 2007 .Her name was suggested for use in the artwork, by her daughter Carol, after a public appeal for people to nominate a friend or family member who deserved to have their name in lights. Una was selected from a number of entries, by a panel which comprised advertising mogul
Trevor Beattie , broadcasterMark Lawson , celebrity agentJonathan Shalit , fashion designerJemima French , and This Morning presenterAlison Hammond .The artwork was said to be a response to the culture of
celebrity epitomised byreality television programmesFact|date=May 2007 and Sofaer said the project was "aimed at encouraging people to think about the meaning of celebrity".Formerly a
hairdresser , White came to Britain fromJamaica in the 1960s and trained as anurse .References
*Kenny, Lee "That's mum on the roof!, Birmingham Mail,
18 May 2007 , p 6.
** [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=19124452%26siteid=50002-name_page.html web version]
*Pinch, Emma, " [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=19126741%26siteid=50002-name_page.html Heroic Una's name up in lights] ",18 May 2007 External links
* [http://www.notcelebrity.co.uk/ Installation website]
* [http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/una-white Birmingham City Council page about the installation]
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