Disadvantages II

Wearing a long sleeve shirt to cover up the E-Bracelet works well – to some extend. As long as I am inside an air-conditioned space I have no problems keeping my shirt on. The E-Bracelet has a tendency to slide down my arm, but as long as I keep my hands busy and not just hanging down my side, that isn’t a problem. The only real problem occurs when I am outside; Florida at this time of the year is simply too hot and humid to wear long sleeves.

Disadvantages I

Showering with the E-Bracelet is somewhat of a challenge, I am not sure if the E-Bracelet is waterproof. I have so far gotten away with leaving my right arm out of the shower. However, it is really difficult to shower only using your left hand, getting the shampoo out of the bottle required both imagination and skill. I have heard that the real electronic ankle bracelet isn't waterproof, so I am wondering if people need to shower with their one leg out of the shower. That would require a lot of balance!

The Letter

After thinking about my experiences with the bracelet, I have realized that the questions, I raised might be of great importance to the execution of this project. I was in particular interested in how the immigrants were notified about the pilot program.

Did the U.S Department of Homeland Security write a letter? If they did, what did the letter say? I have produced my own version of the letter, in which I tried to use a language that would at once sound both official but also somewhat like propaganda.



I am at this moment also trying to obtain information to create a manual, which describes the technical aspects of the bracelet, along with the dos and don’ts.

I have talked also to one of the other residents, who has contacts to different immigration interest groups in the N.Y area. I am hoping to get in touch with someone who actually is or has been wearing the real electronic bracelet. I am very interested in collecting first hand experiences to get more material to work with.

How to Get Really Started

First of all, wearing the E-Bracelet, has triggered a lot of discomfort along with many questions. I know, it might sound silly, but I am one of those people who neither wear jewelry nor watches. It took me forever to get use to my wedding ring, and it probably will take me forever to get use to the presence of this physical device. I normally stay away from wearing any kind of accessories, because they make me feel restricted.

I am trying to make notes of all my observations, physical as well as mentally. So far this is what I have:

Physical:
My wrist gets sore while resting on the E-Bracelet when writing and typing.
At night the E-Bracelet seems to crawl up my arm, where it gets really tight, and shuts of some of the blood circulation to my hand.
Apparently I have a tendency to sleep with my head on my wrist, so my cheek was a little sore one morning.
A little bruise seems to be forming on the inside of my right wrist.




Mentally:
I feel uncomfortable wearing the E-Bracelet, because I think it looks rather silly.
I am worried that people think I am a criminal, because I wear an E-Bracelet.
I prefer to wear long sleeves to cover the E-Bracelet, but it is very hot and humid here.

Mostly I am asking myself a lot of questions, like:
How did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security come up with this idea?
How were the immigrants selected to be in this pilot program?
How were immigrants notified about the selection?
Is it possible to select what kind of bracelet you want?
Does the Bracelet come with a manual?
Is it someone’s job, to be following your whereabouts on a screen all day?
Will the next thing be a chip implant, similar to the ones for cats and dogs?

I believe, I should address these questions, and produce some visual answers along the way.

What is it About

Back in March, March 2, 2005, to be more specific, I was on my way to Chicago in the car. Normally I take the train, but since I was to give a presentation on my "Immigration Project" at St. Xavier University later that day, I borrowed my husband’s car. I had tuned into NPR for educational listening while sitting in the hour-long traffic.

I did not expect to get inspiration for my new project broadcasted through national radio, but that is what happened. The next thing I know, I am listening to a program about a new pilot program, launched by the Department of Homeland Security. This pilot program, taking place in seven cities across the US, demanded immigrants with a pending case to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

The story can be found here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4519090

In the following months, I researched the internet, especially the Department of Homeland Security’s website to gain any further knowledge about the pilot project, but also other forms of surveillance. During my stay here at the ACA, I am going to continue my research and create visuals in response to my discoveries. I have equipped myself with a “placebo electronic bracelet” and I will in the following weeks also be documenting my daily activities with the bracelet in text and images.

So this is it! I got my first blog. Let me put it to some use!

I am at the moment in the wonderful Library building at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna beach, FL. I just set up this blog, and since I am so new to it all, it might be a little while until it goes public, however it will at some point, so I can share my experiences with the rest of the world. Some of you might ask, why I am here and what I am going to do, unless you checked into this blog long after it was created and read everything above first, but then I guess you just end of with a bit of the history... So here we go:

First of all, for those of you who don't know - I am an artist - and have in the past three years been dedicated to create "Immigration Art". I am originally from Denmark, and came to this country, the United States of America, about six years ago. I came to here to check the country out, I guess mostly to see if it really was like portrayed on TV back home. Well, as most of you might have guessed, it wasn't. It was very different - or maybe my perception was different. In any case, I realized that there was a lot of things that I had a hard time coming to terms with... one of them Immigration... and that is really how it all started.

I took me a while to figure out, that I could use my confusion about Immigration as the fuel to create my work, however, when I did, it just felt right. To this date I have created two larger bodies of work specifically related to Immigration to the US, and at this moment, I have just begun my third. You should be able to follow the process by stopping by here throughout the next three weeks.

Thank you for you time and interest.