project image
Alex Young
BECOME CAMERA

first performed on May 11, 2017
3577 Bigelow Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA
performed three times in 2017

SAMIR GANGWANI

Seattle, WA

BECOME CAMERA
SAMIR GANGWANI

The everyday person is being constantly surveilled whether they like it or not via phones, security cameras, laptops, satellite imaging, etc. As a brown man with a beard, I experience a heightened form of surveillance. I’m not only watched by technology; I’m being watched everywhere I go by those on the streets, in stores, and in restaurants because of a stigma created solely on my appearance. Some would profile me as a terrorist.

“Become Camera” is an extended meditation from a series I began in 2016 titled “Always Watching Part I: A Conversation with the TSA.”

The front half of my body is painted white to match the gallery walls and my back is painted grey to match the floor; on my head I mount a GoPro. I begin as a human surveiller loudly sneaking around the gallery trying to watch the audience while simultaneously attempting to hide from surveillance cameras and spectators. This action represents the heightened sense of surveillance I undergo as a person of color. Over time, my actions become slower and slower until I eventually become a stationary camera blending into the walls of the gallery, and I become a part of the majority.