Galerie Lelong, New York, 2005
The projection coincided with an ongoing homeland security campaign informed by the confrontational policies of the Bush administration and restrictions introduced in the name of the “war on terror.” Drawing its title from the campaign’s slogan, “If you see something, say something,” which fuelled an atmosphere of wariness and suspicion of immigrants, the projection comprised images of four windows showing vague figures of immigrants relating or discussing traumatic experiences, restrictive regulations, humiliating procedures, deportations, or harassment by the Department of Homeland Security. Their accounts illustrated the consequences of repressive policies and the reproduction of strangeness through relations of fear and suspicion. The projection was realized in collaboration with a dozen legal and religious organizations helping immigrants.
