From Surveillance to Selfhood: Photography's Gaze in the Beauty Supply Store

This article teaches photographers how to repurpose the visual language of surveillance to create powerful commentary on identity, power, and consumerism. By examining found or staged images from commercial spaces, you can transform a tool of anonymous observation into a medium for analyzing cultural narratives. The key is to shift the gaze from one of control to one of critical inquiry, using composition, context, and framing to reveal hidden stories about race, beauty, and self-presentation.

The Artist as Interrogator: Lessons from Deana Lawson

The recent exhibition Edge Control by artist Deana Lawson, on view at the Gagosian in New York City until October 24, 2026, provides a potent case study. As reported by The Guardian, Lawson uses imagery sourced from beauty supply store security cameras. She doesn't just present surveillance footage; she re-contextualizes it within the gallery, forcing viewers to confront the complex power dynamics embedded in these spaces. The title itself, "Edge Control," operates on multiple levels: it's a haircare product, but also a metaphor for managing societal edges—of race, gender, and visibility.

Lawson's work engages directly with scholar bell hooks' concept of the "oppositional gaze"—the act of looking back as a form of resistance against a dominant, often oppressive, way of seeing. In the beauty supply store, a space deeply tied to Black consumer culture and self-fashioning, surveillance cameras represent an institutional, anonymous gaze. Lawson’s act of selecting, enlarging, and displaying these frames is itself an oppositional gesture. She interrogates who is being watched, why, and what stories are being overlooked in the process.

Understanding the Visual Grammar of Surveillance

To use this aesthetic meaningfully, you must first understand its inherent grammar. Surveillance imagery is typically characterized by high angles (looking down), distorted wide-angle lenses, poor resolution, monochromatic or muted color palettes, timestamps, and a sense of candid, unposed action. The subjects are often unaware or indifferent to the camera, engaged in the mundane rituals of daily life. This grammar creates a feeling of detachment and implied authority. Your creative task is to subvert this grammar while retaining its recognizable core, using it to ask new questions rather than enforce old power structures.

Your Creative Process: From Observation to Art

You don't need access to actual security footage. You can stage photographs or videos that mimic this aesthetic, or appropriate publicly available imagery (ensuring you respect copyright and privacy laws). The goal is conceptual, not technical fidelity.

Step 1: Choose Your "Contested Space." Like Lawson’s beauty supply store, select a commercial or public space rich with cultural meaning—a mall food court, a pharmacy aisle, a bus stop, a school hallway. Consider spaces where identity is performed, consumer decisions are made, or social rules are subtly enforced.

Step 2: Define Your Gaze. Are you mimicking the institutional gaze to critique it? Are you attempting to simulate an "oppositional gaze" from within the scene? Are you combining multiple perspectives? Your compositional choices (angle, distance, cropping) should reflect this intent.

Step 3: Isolate the Ritual. Focus on the small, repeated actions: someone comparing product prices, adjusting their hair, waiting in line, looking at their phone. In these micro-moments, larger themes of desire, belonging, anxiety, and self-care become visible.

Step 4: Re-contextualize. How will you present your image? Simply printing it large on fine art paper changes its meaning. Could you add text, pair it with a portrait, or incorporate it into a mixed-media piece? The new context is where your commentary becomes clear.

Criteria for a Successful Project

When developing a photography project in this vein, whether for a portfolio, class, or personal exploration, consider these criteria to gauge its depth and effectiveness:

• Conceptual Clarity: Is the use of surveillance aesthetics intentional and integral to the idea, or merely a stylistic filter?
• Critical Engagement: Does the work move beyond imitation to offer a specific insight about power, identity, or the space it depicts?
• Formal Cohesion: Do the technical choices (lighting, composition, post-processing) consistently support the intended mood and message?
• Emotional/Intellectual Resonance: Does the work invite the viewer to look closer and think deeper, creating a lasting impression?

Platforms that offer structured feedback, like the rolling assessment for the Photography category at Dynamic Art Award (DAA), can be useful for evaluating these aspects. Such a service can provide an external, structured analysis of how well your technical execution aligns with your conceptual goals. It's important to remember that AI-generated feedback, while helpful for identifying technical consistencies or thematic clarity, has limitations. It cannot grasp the full cultural nuance or personal intent behind work dealing with complex themes like race and surveillance. It is a tool for reflection, not a definitive critique. Always review the platform's current rules, particularly regarding the disclosure of any AI assistance used in your process, as pure AI-generated works are not eligible.

Ethical Considerations and Moving Forward

Working with the aesthetics of observation carries ethical weight. If you are photographing people in public or semi-public spaces, consider issues of consent and representation. Are you perpetuating a harmful gaze, or challenging it? When using found imagery, what are the copyright and privacy implications? Your artistic responsibility increases when dealing with real people and communities. Let your ethical framework strengthen your concept, not hinder it.

The project's ultimate aim is to cultivate a more critical eye—both as a creator and a viewer. By mastering the grammar of one form of looking (surveillance), you empower yourself to deconstruct all the visual messages you encounter daily. You learn to ask: Who is looking? Who is being seen? And who has the power to define what the image means?

This creative approach turns the camera from a passive recorder into an active interrogator. It challenges you to find narrative and humanity within frames designed for control, a skill that lies at the heart of powerful, socially engaged photography.