Inverse Security, 2022
FBI documents printed on laser paper, 42 double-sided 4 x 8 ft. plywood panels
35 x 35 x 8 ft.
Inverse Security is a monumental immersive installation of 35 x 35 x 8 ft. that takes the shape of a tri-circular labyrinth comprising nearly 10,000 pages of declassified government records which were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act federal lawsuit, Boundaoui v. FBI.
The data uncovers thousands of pages of FBI documents related to "Operation Vulgar Betrayal," a large-scale counterterrorism investigation conducted before the September 11 attacks. The work specially reveals how Boundaoui’s neighborhood, located in the suburbs of Chicago, was the subject of a significant counterterrorism probe, with the FBI amassing over tens of thousands of documents on Muslim residents and organizations, though no arrests or links to terrorist activity were ever made.
After meeting with Boundaoui at an academic event, Merhi proposed her to build a massive labyrinth as part of the Inverse Surveillance Project, which became the second phase of the award-winning documentary film, “The feeling of being watched”.
The participation of the community that was surveilled and harassed by the FBI was key in the installation process. The conversations, testimonies, insights, and emotional processing of the participants, including mothers, artists, journalists, spiritual practitioners, builders, professionals, and members of the Arab and Muslim community of Bridgeview, Illinois; were essential to activate the intention of the work: to provide a space-time for affirmation and healing.