Through the process of collecting pictures, I realized the sheer amount of signs and posters stating that we are on camera. And then, from these signs, the number of cameras became ever present. I wanted to include multiple aspects of police presence and surveillance in my work as well as get a general consensus from others on campus about said presence. The blue light phone, which is the central dividing image in the piece, contains an eye in the place of the camera. The blue light phones are all across campus, each containing a camera that surveils the area it is in. There are numerous businesses across campus, each containing cameras that survey customers, and passerbyers. The academic buildings, dorm buildings, and apartment complexes have cameras to keep track of those who come and go. Every part of our lives are under surveillance whether we are aware of it or not. There was not a walk to class I took this year where I did not see a police officer or a police car. But aside from watching, what are they actually doing? My roommate was chased by a man while MUPD was on the scene, there are numerous thefts on campus throughout a given week, and properties are frequently damaged. If MUPD was truly surveilling while they are constantly in their cars driving around campus, or checking the cameras that are so clearly displayed around campus, what would life look like on Marquette’s campus? Would crime be reduced due to the increased utilization of the surveillance pieces already in place? Would students and other members of the community feel burdened by the constant eye? Much of our everyday life is being captured in bits and pieces on the surveillance cameras around campus and it's something that I feel is overlooked or under exposed. Although for obvious security and safety purposes, the cameras provided an added element of a watcher, when considered the sheer amount of footage and life events captured by the cameras around Marquette’s campus.

Along with the cameras themselves, the presence of officers on campus and around Milwaukee is marked. It is important to realize the volume of officers and the degree of police presence in an area especially for those in a minority group. The presence can evoke fear and anxiety for some, and a sense of security for others. But the individual experience of police presence and surveillance is dependent on a number of personal factors.

From my work of art, I wanted to evoke the feeling that you are being watched. But I took the angle of us watching them from the perspective the art piece is aligned with the officers' backs to us. The signs are used more to show we are being watched but even the officers walking on campus are being watched when walking past cameras and blue light phones so in reality every one of us is being watched whether by an actual physical eye, or the metaphorical eye of a camera.