Behind the Eyes is an experiment that retrieves images from the depths of the brain in a series of live Vision & Image Streaming exercises. We asked students: what do you see when you close your eyes? What images flicker behind your eyelids? We filter, internalize, and construct a vast amount of images at rapid rates each day. Today, as we grapple with a constant flood of information, attempts to calm the brain and construct our own images are a challenge. Sameer Farooq embarked on a quest to locate those images and bring them forward: to externalize the internal images. In collaboration with multiple student advocacy groups and associations, Farooq asked participants to see with eyes closed, unlocking a library of images from the collective minds of York students. Turning the focus inwards to reveal the prophetic power of an image, his research-as-performance work examined the individual as a moving archive. Through meditation, intuition training, and guided visioning exercises, students visited their inner image stream and examined the cultural, historical, and social geographies through an atlas (or encyclopedia) of images.

Behind the Eyes is a contemplative work that moved to conjure up peaceful scenes, build imaginary worlds, tell existing narratives, and release difficult images. Mindfullness and meditation are the most recent tools students are utilizing to alleviate stress and open discussion of mental health issues on campus. Recent conversations about mental health have facilitated the de-stigmatization of youths struggling to overcome fear, grief, trauma, loss, and fatigue. Following the students’ lead and their needs, Farooq guided eight students in a one-on-one image streaming performance that exercised the mind’s eye. Through discussions and consultation with the Psychology Clinic at York, The Centre for Vision Research (CVR), and professors in the Department of Psychology and Faculty of Health, the research underscored the complexity of what it actually looks like when we peer behind the eyes.

We conducted research with neuroscientists on campus to formulate strategies on how to activate the brain to bring forward visual evidence of subconscious material. The CVR was an integral partner in facilitating our research on neuroimaging. The Centre is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, rooted in a fundamental research programme that merges techniques in human psychophysics, visual neuroscience, and computational theory. Together with the researchers, scientists, and faculty, Farooq designed and built a script for the performance, taking cues from their tested methods of image retrieval in brain analysis and his own personal experiences with Shambhala meditation and teachings.