Luke 1:30

This piece was a culmination of a year long project focusing on surveillance, control, and religion.

I created an A0 drawing using a 0.3 black fine liner of a stained-glass security camera lens. The drawing has intertwining wires stemming from the centre and the blank circles on the edges represent the structure of a camera lens. I added the spirals aid to the hypnotic effect being watched has on the viewer. I took inspirations from stained-glass windows such as ‘Midday Rose’ in the Notre Dame for this.

It was exhibited in the Head Post Office in Sheffield, in a small room with only a curtain covering the door which was reminiscent of a confessional. I used a short throw projector on an open podium exposing the technology powering it. I named the piece after the bible passage Luke 1:30. ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, For you have found favor with God’ Just as God’s light shines through stained-glass windows and tells His flock how to behave, security cameras are the technological equivalent of His watchful eye.

Here is the original A0 drawing, a few digital variations, an animation and the final piece exhibited.