Seven years ago, Pratya Jankong moved to New York to pursue a MFA in Photography. He still does not have a MFA in Photography, and he is no long sure that he needs one. He is interested in everyday experiences and gestures of domesticity. Intimacy, and the cyclical nature of life. Olga Fedorova studied philosophy and linguistics, and works as an interpreter. She is interested in collaborative and explorative photographic and film practices. They live, and sometimes work together.
Bed Check
Bed Checks began as a reaction to the governmental scrutiny of our relationship.
Despite being considered the easiest way to immigrate to the United States, marriages
like ours are subject to an invasive vetting process. The project became a way to cope
with the anxiety of not knowing whether we would be allowed to remain together in the
place where we made our home.
To prove our innocence, a sceptical bureaucracy expects us to construct and document
a relationship that adheres to an implied standard of heteronormative validity. Potential
red flags, listed in an internal agency document recovered through a Freedom of
Information request, range from eye contact to insufficient, staged, excessive, or explicit
photographic evidence. Failure to meet the standard of evidence can lead to deportation
of the non-citizen spouse.
In addition to obsessively and spontaneously photographing our daily lives, we mine our
lives for physical evidence of existence in the same space. Through a combination of
environmental portraiture, still life, forensic and surveillance techniques, and staged
photography, the project negotiates the intersection of intimacy, nationality, citizenship,
surveillance, and privacy.
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