…Is Always Watching

Solo exhibition featuring work created during the course of my tenure as Hilla Rebay Post Baccalaureate Felllow in the Studio Arts department at Trinity College.

Exhibition Dates: May 13 – 30th, 2019
Reception: May 13, 4:30 – 6:30pm
Location: CCAN Gallery at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut

“The popular CBS reality show returns for an 11th round of voyeurism and psychodrama, as 12 strangers live together in a specially outfitted house where their every move is caught on camera… One by one a houseguest is evicted by his or her peers, until the last houseguest standing takes home the $500,000 prize…”

–Description of Big Brother Season 20 taken from Google, January 2019, (Excerpt)

…Is Always Watching functions as a commentary on privacy, surveillance, and entertainment. It prompts the viewer to re-examine their personal value of privacy within a society in which the commodification of personal data is increasingly normalized. This photo essay is made up of a series of screenshots from the popular reality television show Big Brother, sourced from online clips.

The work is meant to be unnerving. In highlighting the most bizarre, strange, or uncomfortable moments from online clips of various seasons of Big Brother, the imagery attempts to transcend my personal feelings and concerns regarding privacy to you, the viewer. Often the frames that were selected, or screen grabbed, were moments where the subject breaks the fourth wall with the viewer. I personally found that moment of recognition to be the most jarring or anxiety inducing.

In a time when mass surveillance is expected, I believe it is our right as a society to take every precaution to prevent our personal data from being exploited. In not exercising our right to inhibit third parties from peering into our lives via our uncovered webcams, our devices, and our app permissions, we invite unwanted eyes to view us in the same way that we view the figures in this photo essay.