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.