Information

By Laura Moen

 :

The themes of documentation and experience presented in the work of Vandy Rattana from the Cambodian Visual Art Program Residency inspired my project. His work seeks to understand the individual realities of everyday experiences for contemporary Cambodians. I will be exploring similar themes in my work.

:

Guess Who is a project that takes a critical view of the prejudicial practice of Stop and Frisk in New York. The project developed from my desire to expose and experience this unjust method of policing.  I conducted formal research and personal interviews with individuals affected by Stop and Frisk to further understand the ramifications.  I wanted to delve into the mind of someone who feels they need to hide their identity from potentially abusive authorities.  The project is essentially an experiment with the psychological implications of people who have been profiled or may be targeted for profiling.  I created the Guess Who hoodie to be a tool to help my personal investigation of hidden identity.  The hoodie has black screen fabric over the head opening to give the wearer a sense of anonymity.  Through a performative walk while wearing the hoodie, I examined my psychological state.  I felt much more aware of myself and of my physical actions while hidden behind the screen.  Though I was not approached at any point during my walk through Brooklyn, it was a successful psychological experiment as I have never been personally targeted or profiled.   Guess Who poses the larger question, “What do we see when we look at each other?”