London 202X : London 202X is about being seen today in London. It may be usual for citizens to be watched by the eyes of the city everyday now, however, it was not chosen. In the presence of multiple cameras each step, we see the mechanical gaze becoming a continuation of the male gaze, only to reform itself into the authoritarian gaze which diminishes its citizens into a sea of bodies to extract data from. In one of the most surveilled cities in the world, as the resolution of CCTV cameras get clearer, the questions of identity, race and gender & their visibility becomes blurrier.
First, I photographed the characteristic buildings of the city. In the inverted photos, the city changes from observer to the observed through an inversion in photography. Later, I moved on to photographing the CCTV cameras itself in heavily surveilled locations in London in the costume, the gaze being mirrored right back to the camera. Inverting images creates a symbolic way of shifting from being watched to watching in relation to gender. Negotiating between visibility and invisibility through the appearance and the disappearance of body parts. All familiar buildings and scenes yet appearing surreal, the images aim to disrupt the power hierarchy of the the authoritarian gaze.
Part I
Part II
