The project investigates surveillance and the lack of private space in China, developing a collection of inflatable transformer costumes. When the human bodies huddle together in their costumes, creating a safe space to protect the children from the psychological pressure derived from surveillance in China.  

 

According to China Files, approximately one billion surveillance cameras are located in China, accounting for almost half of total number in the world. Anyone who comes into range of these cameras will be watched and recorded. Governments at all levels, from local to national, exert totalitarian control over the populace by collecting and storing personal information in a centralized database. Facial recognition system, as part of the Chinese authority surveillance, have been placed not only on the streets, but also in elementary and secondary school classrooms. Children study and grow up under constant monitoring of children’s performance and intelligence. Children have developed an obsession of behaving well and getting good results, which is a subconscious influence by the performance-centric society.

 

There is always a tension between visibility and invisibility, calling for dissemination of the struggles but with identities stayed anonymous. Wearable gear is a low-cost gesture of defiance against the surveillance from authorities. During the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, the essential tool for Hong Kong protesters, umbrellas, have become the defining symbol of the movement, as a mean of improvised defence against surveillance cameras and pepper spray.

 

The project adopts camouflage aesthetics through a collection of costumes design. The body of parents wearing transformer costumes is the tool to resist the authorities. Parents create private space for their children from being watched by transforming and creating a shelter with their bodies in a collective way.

​

​