OONA: Turning Surveillance Against Itself
OONA is an artist known for her enigmatic presence in the art world, where she never reveals her face or identity, using this gesture as part of her practice to construct a particular experience of the body. Within her work, unfold sensations of joy, suffering, struggle, conflict, and agreement; and with a shift in perspective, life itself appears — in all its details and textures, revealed through the body's own materiality. In her practice, the body becomes a tool, a deeply personal gesture that absorbs and registers external pressures. In OONA's work, the interplay between expressing and concealing identity challenges traditional notions of self-representation. Through video and performance, OONA shows how progressive technologies coexist with socially regressive structures, exposing tensions in the contemporary cultural landscape. OONA says: ❝ I always wear a veil over my face and perform at galleries, fairs, places where I am invited, and places where I am not invited. Anonymity is important for my performance because it makes the performance less about my face and who I am individually, and more about my body, my female body❞ On CIFRA, OONA presents works from the “Dear David” series, in which she appears in the London Underground wearing a mask, deliberately placing herself within surveillance cameras. She requests the footage through official channels, an option available in the UK. David, a 29-year Transport for London employee, responds to her requests. This artistic process explores the dynamic between observer and observed, reflecting the societal condition described as a 'society of the spectacle,' where visual culture dominates. The corporeality of vision opens possibilities for shifts in how we see, creating a specific instrumentality of sight that allows the blind to see. The observer's subjectivity dissolves boundaries between seeing and not-seeing, introducing transparent and opaque lenses into the optical field. Within this space, forms of power, their totality, and possibilities for resisting them are registered in the act of looking. The observed is no longer something that hides, but something that desires to be seen, even if it doesn't exist. But remember: OONA doesn’t really exist, but she takes herself very seriously — so you should too. The work was included in a curated selection by Anika Meier, a notable curator known for her focus on digital and contemporary art. OONA has exhibited at Art Basel Miami, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Proof of People (London and New York), Vellum (Los Angeles), and Avalanche Summit (Barcelona).
