Putin’s Prison
2022Putin’s Prison presents a series of screen captures taken from unsecured security cameras across Russia between 3–4 April 2022, on the 40th day of the invasion of Ukraine.
I began collecting these images after learning that hackers had breached Russia’s network of unsecured CCTV cameras and were replacing their data readouts with anti-war messages. The feeds were ordinary—car parks, apartment building foyers, shop floors—but the machinery of surveillance speaks with a dissenting voice.
Putin’s Prison emerged from my fascination with this moment when a system designed for control began transmitting its own subversion. However fleeting these interventions were, they revealed both the vulnerability of the network and the ingenuity of those trying to reclaim it.
I began collecting these images after learning that hackers had breached Russia’s network of unsecured CCTV cameras and were replacing their data readouts with anti-war messages. The feeds were ordinary—car parks, apartment building foyers, shop floors—but the machinery of surveillance speaks with a dissenting voice.
Putin’s Prison emerged from my fascination with this moment when a system designed for control began transmitting its own subversion. However fleeting these interventions were, they revealed both the vulnerability of the network and the ingenuity of those trying to reclaim it.
Digitally printed saddle-stitched booklet
16 images with four inserts and a text by the artist. Inserts include three protest stickers and folded print. 48 x 105mm, 32 pages. Printed April 2022.
