JUST

Essay-film, 2024

In 1977, Gary Gilmore became the first person to be executed in the United States following the reinstatement of the death penalty. His last words, spoken to those present at his execution, were ‘Let’s do it.’ A decade later, the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy rephrased those three words, trademark-registered them, and put them to work selling shoes.

‘Just Do It’ has since acquired the character of a doctrine. For those who receive it as inspiration, it functions as a call to transcend limitation and act. For those who receive it as instruction, the coercive edge is harder to ignore. That a single phrase sustains both readings simultaneously, across decades and markets, says something about how commercial language learns to make itself feel inevitable. The philosophy, if that is the right word, is distilled rather than argued.

The film examines what it means to inherit language made for one purpose, repackaged for another, and received as though it were self-evident truth.

Premiered at Gallery North, Northumbria University, Newcastle, April–May 2024, as part of the group exhibition What Are Words Worth? curated by Matthew Hearn.