Kelvin’s work emerges from the idea of the Panopticon effect, a social theory by Jeremy Bentham and later Michel Foucault, regarding how individuals self-censor when they believe they are being watched.

In Kelvin’s painting, the heavy, rusted Globe lock serves as a physical manifestation of this theory. While the lock appears on the surface, it represents an internal “imaginary lock” created by low self-esteem and inherited fears. By placing this identifiable industrial object directly over the eye, I am referencing the ways we build internal prisons that limit our perspective. This composition allows the viewer to trace the connection between a common, external security tool and the invisible psychological barriers that isolate the human mind.