Jon Rafman’s ‘The Nine Eyes of Google Street View’ Photo Project

Canadian artist Jon Rafman has presented viewers with a collection of the most bizzare, quirky and often disturbing images that are captured on Google's Street View.

Christopher Kevin Au
Published on March 06, 2012
Updated on January 23, 2024

Canadian artist Jon Rafman has presented viewers with a collection of the most bizzare, quirky and often disturbing images that are captured on Google's Street View. Named after the nine cameras that sit on top of the vehicles used to capture the images that form Google's mapping service, Rafman's work has again expanded notions of art and street photography.

The collection includes four masked strangers on a highway in Mexico, a van engulfed in flames on the brink of explosion in Brazil, and a man revealing his bare bottom in Ireland. Rafman states that he collected the images through Street View blogs and his own use of the service, and has offered a lengthy essay detailing the purpose of the work and it's significance.

Like the stunning images captured by Aaron Hobson, Rafman has shown us that the Internet is reaching a vastness that allows us to become virtual explorers of the world. With Google's mission to map the entire world and immortalise it online, there will be no shortage of images from fascinatingly random locations that we haven't even heard of.

Next time you pass one of Google's vehicles you should quickly comb your hair and flash your best smile. After all, you might become part of an artwork.

[via Buzzfeed]

Published on March 06, 2012 by Christopher Kevin Au
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