NO AIRPORT TO TRAVEL FROM
Based on the artist’s extensive travels and work in the region, NO AIRPORT TO TRAVEL FROM addresses the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by appealing to the universal human condition of being a teenager, but here in a warzone. The viewer meets nine Palestinian teenagers in a 3x3 grid installation of screens. In a staccato mosaic of voices echoing their stress and frustration, fragments gradually come to the fore, creating a dialogue between those speaking and listening on screen - and between them and the viewer.The young Palestinians testify to curfews and checkpoints, shootings and statelessness. The undeniable chorus their voices form is repeatedly punctuated by the word freedom: the freedom to live in peace and plan their futures, but also the freedom to dance at discos, go on school trips and invite friends to parties. To have an airport to travel from - and a future destination.
With their breaking voices and pubescent faces awkwardly adjusting to adulthood the experiences the teenagers in NO AIRPORT TO TRAVEL FROM recount juxtapose the politics dominating their daily lives with everyday experiences of teenage life. The artist’s approach to the testimony she presents is not based on any census, checklist or questionnaires, but on personal encounters she uses to create a direct face-to-face appeal to the viewer: the voices and thoughts of teenagers far older than their years and an opportunity to hear voices nobody seems to be listening to.
In an exhibition context the video installation is accompanied by 7 prints portraying fragments of the physical impact of the occupation, as well the option of a site-specific text work reiterating and reinforcing fragments of the young Palestinians’ testimony.
EXHIBITION
No Airport to Travel From, 2006
Installation View: Peter Lav Gallery, Denmark.
INFO
No Airport to Travel From, 2006
Installation View: Peter Lav Gallery
Video installation:
Duration: 9:30 min looped.
Exhibited as a single channel installation.
Language: Arabic. English subtitles.
Prints: Archival ink print. Edition of 5+1AP each size.