𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧 / performance artist
Joined October 2021
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Dear David
sex, surveillance & ownership: a thread about art.
Ownership: we’ve become so subservient to surveillance that we forget: my image, my face, is not public property. it does not belong to the state. it is Mine. And if I want it, I will get it. It is my right, and so it is yours too.
of course, true ownership is an illusion, but attention can easily be stolen. all it takes is a red dress and a veil.
Surveillance & Sex: CCTV registers bodies as objects. Its stated goal is protection, but it is always operating in the past: never in the moment. On the London Underground, the most common violence against women is verbal sexual harassment. CCTV does nothing to stop it. It only looks, never listens.
And yet, for all it knows (my face, my home address, my real name) the surveillance machine does not know my voice. The machine cannot hear. It does not want to listen.
Object Tracking: In this footage, I am tracked like an object. The machine treats me like its property. It protects only passively. The visual effects of object blurring and tracking have been applied by the Transport for London - not me. A literal layer of objectification. which ties nicely into the idea that women regularly subject themselves to self-surveillance of their own bodies.
women (although i do think this spreading to boys and men bc of socials) are constantly aware of the image of themselves - of how they will look on camera. it is a third party perspective of the body rather than a first person experience of the body in time and space. the cctv, the camera, has been internalized.
of course to make an artwork so blatantly about surveillance and objectification would be missing all the fun OONA subversion, so instead Dear David is a love letter. A reaching behind the machine to the man who i've been corresponding with since I started performing on the underground back in 2018.
If you like this artwork, you'll also like:
Manu Luksch – Manifesto for CCTV Filmmakers
Sophie Calle – The Hotel
Angela King - Self-surveillance of womanhood
Janet Cardiff – The Missing Voice (Case Study B)
thank you for your attention.
cc: @_second_guess @postanika
@margaretonline @leahschrager @aljaparis @objktcom
OONA GETS EVERYTHING.
loved this interview, please enjoy <3
With the year-end roundups just around the corner, we’d like to make sure one wedding makes the list: OONA’s. “It was the wedding of the century, and the groom never took his eyes off of me. David never will. If I were writing a book, I’d title this chapter: OONA GETS EVERYTHING!”
On 16 October, @madebyoona symbolically married the surveillance state at London’s @shoreditcharts_ The ceremony marked the final chapter of Dear David: A Surveillance Love Story, curated by @postanika for @_second_guess
What began with requests for CCTV footage became an extraordinary correspondence and, eventually, a wedding. With humour and tenderness, OONA makes room for difficult questions about who owns the images of the body and what it means to consent to being watched.
We warmly invite you to read “OONA: Some Body to Love” online at The AI Art Magazine and discover her work on @objktcom
Wedding photos @jennifermoyesphoto @rebecca_goodwin_photo @postanika
So happy to share this interview with @the_ai_art_mag
The questions were so thoughtful and I had a great time thinking about surveillance, privacy and our relationship to consent.
Read, if you still know how!
Honored that one collector has the full set 🩵
✦ WHAT'S MOVING ✦
Recent top sales across objkt:
⟡ *Dear David, A Love Letter* by @madebyoona; curated by @_second_guess — 5,600 ꜩ to ??
⟡ *hunowàli* by @speciesofvalue curated by @_second_guess — 2,000 ꜩ to ??
⟡ *fluxus_02a* by @ex_mortal_ — 1,027 ꜩ to @halving_fun
⟡ *Waking Light* by @StudioCaptain1 — 1,000 ꜩ to @kompakd
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night before my wedding….
Can’t believe it’s coming tomorrow.
I haven’t written my vows… twitter, help?
How could i possibly express my love and commitment for David in words when we speak in images???
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