Vivyan Carr

Supervision, 2026

Live video installation

Supervision is placed in front of a mirror and features a string of dreadlocks suspended above while being surrounded by security equipment and software that illuminate and relay visual information of the dreadlocks presented in the central piece. Discussed in Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On The Surveillance of Blackness, historic acts of black surveillance include and are not limited to the following. Lantern laws were passed in New York City in 1713, requiring black people to carry a light source that illuminated their bodies to be seen in the night, enabling those who were not required to abide by this law to identify and observe black people constantly. The Book of Negroes exists as an act of identifying and tracking, listing the physical descriptions, ages, and places of birth and enslavement of 3,000 slaves. Slaves were branded with their owner’s initials via scarification usually on their foreheads, arms, or breasts, serving to differentiate between which slaves were owned by who and where they were ordered be. Supervision is created based off of the research of the surveillance of blackness presented in Simone Browne’s Dark Matters, placing a part of the black body to exist within the presence of directed light and monitored by cameras relaying live and proximate feedback.