Stealing (The Broad, The Getty, LACMA, MOCA), (2026)
Stealing... , 2026. Pigment prints, acrylic, Scotch tape, nails, 243.8 × 304.8 cm | 96 × 120 inches
Stealing... , 2026. Pigment prints, acrylic, Scotch tape, nails, 243.8 × 304.8 cm | 96 × 120 inches
I stole these images.
Without authorization, and with my own security cameras held high above my head, I stood under security cameras already installed across museums in Los Angeles (The Broad, The Getty, LACMA, MOCA) filming exhibition rooms.
The resulting photomontage is a reference to the “Wall of Shame” displays commonly found behind the counters of convenience stores, hardware stores, and other places of commerce. Museums are generally perceived as somewhere between private and public space, and without the commercial associations of security imagery these images can be recontextualized as a means to interrogate our relation to such.
I call these occurred images, to distinguish them from found images. The found image still presumes an artist who searches, and the searching is itself an act of authorship. An occurred image arrives -produced in the ordinary course of a life, or forced into being by presence, by institution, or by algorithm. The occurred images across “Wall of Shame” displays are peculiar intimate portraits of strangers. The images become a lasting record, which seeks a form of public consequence through exposure. Through repetition, surveillance images have become familiar enough that their violence is often overlooked. Yet the images are still quite disturbing. They seek a sort of revenge -a sort of humiliation, and this system relies on our indifference.
These images were uncomfortable to make. The subjects were often also made uncomfortable by the process. The act of holding a camera directly toward an individual produces an immediate confrontation far more direct than the invisible operation of a security system. But it seemed to me the only way to have this conversation.
I am not accusing these individuals of anything. The form is, and I chose the form. Arranged as a wall, these faces become suspects -not through anything they did, and not because I have said so, but because the arrangement instructs you how to look at them. If you read them for guilt, the guilt was yours to supply.
The title, Stealing (The Broad, The Getty, LACMA, MOCA), refers to my own actions. The theft is not of property, but of perspective.
The question is not whether an image has been taken.
The question is who is allowed to take it.
The museums all have their own cameras, above me. The Getty asked me multiple times to stop or leave -perhaps now their own portrait of me has been recorded somewhere or is displayed outside of public view on a backroom wall.
But I would argue such an image would be most appropriate in the museum’s own souvenir stores, recirculated back into a place of commerce -a place these images are expected and digestible. Maybe it wouldn’t even be concerning if it was occurred on a t-shirt.
An eye for an eye (a return of the gaze).