| Operation compresses centuries of moral architecture into a single textile field. On the left, a red-toned image of Saint Lucy stands crowned and serene. Venerated as the patron saint of the blind, Lucy is a symbol of spiritual clarity and sacrificial vision. Her presence evokes the ancient belief that the divine sees all—that saints witness sin, virtue, and intention. She is not just a figure of grace; she is a moral lens.
To her right, a fragment of a CCTV warning sign intrudes: “THIS PROPERTY IS PROTECTED BY VIDEO SURVEILLA…” The message is clipped, but the implication is clear. The gaze has shifted from sacred to secular, from spiritual to institutional. The saints watched your soul; the cameras watch your body. Both enforce behavior through visibility.
Painted on mounted denim, the work resists sanctity. The frayed edges and tactile surface suggest wear, labor, and cultural residue. Denim becomes a secular canvas for sacred tension. The juxtaposition of saintly icon and surveillance signage reframes morality as a system of observation—where ethical behavior is shaped not by belief alone, but by the idea of being seen.
Operation does not resolve this tension. It stages it. A compact canvas of symbolic intrusion, where sanctity and scrutiny collide, and morality is enforced not by faith, but by the lens—ancient or modern.
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