Operation Guest
2012- Ongoing
site-specific performance, archival pigment prints, offset print on newsprint
In December 2011 I learned from a Google Alert that the Mexican Government had disrupted a plot they dubbed "Operation Guest" to smuggle Saadi Gaddafi, the son of the late Col. Muammar Gaddafi, from Niger, Africa to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, MX under the assumed name Daniel Bejar Hanan.
Investigators also discovered false passports and birth certificates with the surname Bejar for Saadi, his wife, and two children. Saadi was to assume the name Daniel Bejar Hanan; coincidentally my name is Daniel Bejar, and we also share a similar likeness.
Utilizing this bizarre coincidence as a unique opportunity to continue my research into questions of identity, authorship, and the copy, I traveled to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, MX to realize this story through documented site-specific performances in the safe houses, beaches and restaurants Saadi was to spend the rest of his days in.