Abasi Rosborough Explores Government Surveillance With “In Plain Sight” Campaign

By Renz Ofiaza in Clothing

New York’s Abasi Rosborough unveiled its FW18 “Utopia/Dystopia” collection earlier this year at NYFW, and now the fashion label has released its first video campaign for the collection in a new video titled, “In Plain Sight.”

Filmed and edited by Levi Walton, the visual puts the spotlight on a recent NY Times article about facial recognition, which also highlights the standout face masks by Ryan Burke, in addition to select silhouettes that were showcased in the FW18 fashion presentation.

Overall, the theme of the short video is the brand’s reaction to companies like Amazon and Apple encroaching prevalence of biometric surveillance in our lives.

View more of the brand’s FW18 “Utopia/Dystopia” campaign below, and you can purchase the collection at Abasi Rosborough retailers, as well as online now.

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AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA Part 1 of 9, 'iPhone X launch' While we were working on the concept for AW18, the iPhone X was released. As we all now know, the new feature was security with facial recognition. We were surprised at this — this is technology that we were only familiar with via Mission Impossible movies. Its futuristic, but it started a conversation — what are the further reaching implications? AW18 in stores now. Photo by @c.fenimore #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 8, 2018 at 5:17pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA Part 2 of 9, 'Your Face in 3D' Facial recognition technology was about to become far more widespread, and slowly embedded in all aspects of modern life. Facebook had been using facial recognition for photos for years, but only in 2D (images) – the iPhone X was taking this further by creating a fully 3D rendered scan of your face. So that opened the conversation up — is that a good or bad for society? Once you open that door, there is no going back. AW18 in stores now. #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 8, 2018 at 5:19pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA Part 3 of 9, 'Living in a Panopticon' Facial scanning in and of itself is not good or bad – it’s just data. The bigger question is, who has the data, and what are their aims? Take cows for example — farmers are now deploying cow facial recognition technology (google it). They use the technology to identify the cow, not to see the cow's face, but to monitor their behavior — read their moods, see how much they are eating or sleeping, determine health, and whether or not they are disturbing other cows. So the ultimate aim is surveillance, biometric surveillance. Going back to society — who is ‘the farmer’? AW18 in stores now. Photo by @kyledorosz #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 8, 2018 at 5:21pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA Part 4 of 9, 'Bigger Questions' We felt this was worth discussing and exploring with the collection, because our times mark the beginning of a turning point for civilization and society as we know it — once you go down the rabbit hole, there is no coming back. And the larger question becomes, is all of this technology building towards the utopian society we've always dreamed of? Or is it taking a slowly invasive and sinister trajectory? AW18 in stores now. #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 11, 2018 at 5:36pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA Part 5 of 9, 'Perspectives' Consider your ancient ancestors for a second — tribal, living in Europe or Africa or Asia long before those names were ascribed to those places, hunting, gathering, surviving, fire, stone and wood tools. Imagine showing them a glimpse into our times — glowing skyscrapers, autonomous vehicles, genetic modification, biometric surveilance, global connectedness, superstorms and climate change — from their perspective, we are already living in a "Blade Runner"-esque time. AW18 in stores now. #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 11, 2018 at 5:38pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA Part 6 of 9, 'Growing Pains' Facial recognition still has massive issues plaguing the technology — just last week there were articles in the NY Times and Wired about Amazon's facial recognition technology, which managed to confuse photos of 28 African American members of Congress with publicly available mug shots. The darker undercurrent is that Amazon developed this technology for US law enforcement. As if we don't already have enough police issues in the US, put yourself in the shoes of someone being falsely accused of a crime by Amazon's facial recognition technology. AW18 in stores now. #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 11, 2018 at 5:40pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA 7 of 9. We just got back from China last night and write this to remind ourselves to question authority and challenge the status quo – not to allow ourselves to be led into a high-surveillance police state. Whose interests are truly being served by the advances in technology and surveillance? AW18 in stores now. Photo by @kyledorosz #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 17, 2018 at 5:28pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA 8 of 9. In addition to the story, we are proud of this collection physically — 85% of the fabrics are deadstock from New York City – we had to scour warehouses to find them, but of course it’s a labor of love as the fabrics are rare, limited, and speak to sustainability. In stores around the world now. On our website, we have up the first of three releases. And something we are very excited about launching coming out next week. Artwork by @c0reyjames #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 17, 2018 at 5:30pm PDT

AW18 UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA 9 of 9. We are honored to have worked with @ryburk on this project. We met, explained the concept and within a couple days leading up the AW18 show, our first, he came back with these masks – they were meant to disguise the face of the wearer, but also reminded us of futuristic Spartan helmets. Check out his work, it’s endless inspiration and innovation. #AbasiRosborough
A post shared by ABASI ROSBOROUGH (@abasirosborough) on Aug 17, 2018 at 5:32pm PDT

Words by Renz Ofiaza

Staff Writer

relenzless

scribbling by day, architect by night

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