Aoife Murphy’s series Panopticon responds both to the current public health crisis and broader issues surrounding surveillance and human behaviour. The panopticon is a type of institutional building and system of control designed by Jeremy Bentham in the eighteenth century. The panopticon design allows all prisoners in an institution such as a prison to be observed by a single security guard, without the inmates being able to tell whether they are being watched. Murphy’s work investigates connections between the history of the panopticon and aspects of surveillance in today’s society. The series includes four paintings, with a mix of monochrome and colour elements.