Dear David, I'm A Spoilt Girl

“Dear David” by OONA is a virtual ‘love letter’ built entirely from CCTV footage of the artist in the London Underground, framing the body as an object tracked by state surveillance systems. It is addressed to David, a Transport for London employee of 29 years, who processes public requests for CCTV access, a right that every person has within 14 days of their capture.

Each time OONA performed on the Underground, she requested the CCTV footage, corresponding via email with David. This correspondence allowed the artist to build a relationship with someone who also operates in a form of public anonymity, not completely dissimilar to her own artistic anonymity.

To retrieve her footage, OONA documented what she was wearing and her exact movements, platforms, and carriages with precision. After receiving OONA’s personal information and corresponding paperwork, David used various recognition software to track OONA throughout the stations, blurring the identities of others. In this surveillance ‘love letter,’ OONA reaches through the surveillance technology to find and adore the human on the other side.

Chapters 3 and 4 of “Dear David” offer two corresponding videos from different perspectives. Chapter 3, “Dear David, I am a Spoilt Girl,” and Chapter 4, “Dear David, It’s a Spoilt World,” further explore the interplay between surveillance, intimacy, and human connection, expanding the poetic and performative possibilities of OONA’s visibility and voice within a system built to anonymize.