Map the World

Foreign Everywhere x Street View Archive

Foreign Everywhere has worked together with Street View Archive to create a collection of canvases and clothing using portrait imagery from Google Maps.

Over the last ten years, Google has been collecting data inputs provided by their users, artificial intelligence, and satellite imagery to produce a digital recreation of the world. With this information Google were able to develop their “Street View” technology; a controversial feature that allows users to virtually explore this world through stitched panoramas. 

Street View Archive (@streetview.archive) documents imagery, provided by this technology, in an effort to preserve information from this potentially volatile source. Foreign Everywhere x Street View Archive’s recent collection has focused on capturing portraits of bystanders caught in the crossfire of Google’s mass data collection. In doing so, they challenge Google’s promise of anonymity to users, drawing light on issues of privacy in the digital age. 

The collection Foreign Everywhere has created in collaboration with Street View Archive further illustrates Google’s attempt to, in their words, “Map the World” By embroidering these portraits we hope to provide our audience with a new perspective on contemporary surveillance.

To learn where an individual was photographed, click on their embroidery below.