In 2013, the CIA declassified WWI invisible ink recipes from 100 years ago. The disclosure was based on the belief that these methods no longer pose a threat to national security due to advancing digital encryption technology rendering invisible ink obsolete. But are such old techniques as innocuous as they’re considered? In light of the fact that a majority of people conduct their communications digitally, making most of their online activities trackable, recordable and commodifiable, perhaps resorting to analog paper and invisible ink may be indeed safer. The 'dumb' medium of paper does not inadvertently leak your information behind the scenes, and for the very fact that it’s considered unthreatening makes it an interesting alternative. After all, in the last scene of Citizenfour (2014), Laura Poitras’ documentary on Edward Snowden, journalist Glenn Greenwald resorts to paper and pen to communicate privately.

Invisible ink is a form of secret writing also known as steganography, it is the art and science of being hidden in plain sight, which has been the subject of Amy Suo Wu’s research Tactics and Poetics of Invisibility for the last two years. In her research she has been working on resuscitating analogue steganography as a tactic to evade digital surveillance because it is potentially more effective over digital cryptography due to its subversive offline simplicity, and possibility a more democratic and accessible solution for those who are less technically privileged. Her research project also aims to revive obsolete, low-tech and forgotten media, encouraging alternative and experimental modes of communication and (co)creating tactical and poetic ways of communicating as a way to protect ourselves from surveillance while still being visible to our peers.