Surveillance is defined as the “continuous observation of a place, person, group,

or ongoing activity to gather information” (Dictionary, 2020). The discourse

around it has been plagued with tales of paranoia and the omnipresent Big

Brother. These measures are understandable in a world governments and

corporations do use surveillance to control the behaviour of citizens under the

guise of “market research” and “anti-terrorist precautions”.

Far from being an advent of modernism, surveillance is a phenomenon that exists

for thousands of years before. It exists on an interpersonal level of looking out for

one another or institutional monitoring of the taxation system and the Doomsday

Book. An example of a surveillance tool used before the age of electronic

surveillance was the postcard. It was an powerful tool used to connect and survey

loved ones across vast distances and gives us a voyeuristic peek into the past. Now, we participate in practices of self surveillance through our observation and correspondence with others.

These photographs and collages are merely a part of my process for my Intimate Surveillance series. I spent a few days of my quarantine taking photographs of surveillance livestreams. I really enjoy them and I hope you do too!