The project explores encryption as both a protective and imprisoning force, using the animated moving image as a medium to reflect on issues of identity, control and vulnerability in the era of the dark web. By visualising the sinister potential of self surveillance and digital entrapment through hand drawn digital images, the project critiques the seductive yet dangerous nature of contemporary forms of enclosure, echoing Nadim Samman’s exploration of the hidden, the revealed and the trapped in his book The Poetics of Encryption. By linking the narrative to the dark web, the project critiques the dual nature of technology. The dark web operates as a space for hidden activities both liberating and illicit, reflecting societal failures in ethics, morality, and communication. Similarly, the distorted images in this project symbolize the suppressed and darker facets of identity, brought to light by digital tools yet leading to isolation and entrapment.