Animal New York interviews Essam, the artist behind a recent campaign aiming to start a conversation about the United States’ foreign, and what he believes to be imminent, domestic use of drones.
To do so, Essam designed what appear to be NYPD endorsed advertisements that depict drones dropping bombs onto New York citizens, and posted upwards of 100 around the city. He claims that some were hung right in front of police officers without any interference.
Having served in Iraq, Essam is familiar with the military use of drones, and fears that we aren’t too far off from local police forces, such as the NYPD, using drones for law enforcement purposes. As of right now, Essam isn’t too worried:
“He agrees that there is an inherent irony in his spoofs: the very fact that the NYPD (which claims to be strongly pursuing him with their ‘counter terrorism squad’) hasn’t caught him yet, is proof that we have not reached a state of Orwellian control. ‘But we’re going in that direction and no one’s talking about it,’ he says. ‘And I think that’s pretty scary.’”
For a more in-depth description of Essam’s project, and a video interview with the artist, head over to Animal New York.
