COUNTER SURVEILLANCE
The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) and The AjA Project collaborated in launching the final phase of the 3-year Counter Surveillance program. This youth fellowship is a rapid-response art production program to create a campaign against San Diego Police Department’s proposed “Smart Street Lights Ordinance”. In the summer, 12 youth fellows worked with established artists Daniel Ruanova and Mely Barragan to create textile-based visual aids and props that were taken to City Hall. At City Hall, fellows presented a powerful testimony of how surveillance has been affecting the primarily refugee and Black community of City Heights. Continuing from the summer, 4 youth fellows were selected to collaborate in a large-scale exhibition piece with The AjA Project. Fellows spray-painted surveillance terminology onto a 8x10 inflatable camera. Inside, fellows engaged with community members to discuss the harmful consequences of surveillance technology in San Diego.
PANA Youth at City Hall.
On June 22nd 2023, AjA and PANA headed to City Hall for the Privacy Advisory Board’s (PAB) last meeting before making their recommendation. Youth fellows Mohammed, Sumaya, and Iqlaas gave powerful statements about their experiences as Black Muslim youth in a community that has been experiencing years of surveillance. They were supported by the other fellows, who wore powerful art pieces they have been working on for the past months with invited artist like Daniel Ruanova and Mely Barragán.
Featured work by Nimo Ali, Spring 2022
COUNTER SURVEILLANCE addresses the following questions:
Who has the power to capture and use images, especially in public spaces?
How can we rebuild classifications of that data and reclaim control over the visual narrative?
Who is framing the discussion on bias in technology?
How can the power to create the narrative rest in the hands of those who are most vulnerable?
Featured work by Ashwak MohamedBashir, Spring 2022
Community Partners
Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans
United Women of East Africa
TRUST SD Coalition
COUNTER SURVEILLANCE is in its prototype year and supported by an Innovations + Intersections grant offered by the California Arts Council. This grant is designed to support creative strategies for urgent community needs around technology as it intersects with the art and wellness sectors.
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