EULOGY TO MY ROOTS
SOLO SHOW, 2023
CEDAR WOOD SHROUDED IN WHITE PAINT. VARIABLE DIMENSIONS.
IN JULY 2021, A WILDFIRE REACHED ANDAKET, MY NATIVE VILLAGE, ON THE NORTHERN LEBANESE BORDERS. LIKE MANY, I HAVE KNOWN MY TOWN FROM AFAR, LINKED TO THE LAND, TO MY GRANDPARENTS, AND TO SOME CHILDHOOD MEMORIES. IN SEPTEMBER OF THAT SAME YEAR, MY GRANDFATHER PASSED AWAY, SEVERING THE TIES I HAVE LEFT TO THIS PLACE.
AMIDST THIS DOUBLE LOSS, AND THROUGH THIS PERIOD OF GRIEF, I WAS CONSUMED BY THE GUILT OF NOT BEING ABLE TO CARE FOR THIS LAND ANYMORE. MY ANCHORS HAD BOTH DISSIPATED, AND I FOUND MYSELF A SENSE OF FREEDOM AWAY FROM MY ROOTS.
IS THAT FREEDOM WORTH ITS PRICE?
TODAY THE LEBANESE YOUTH IS FACING AN UNPRECEDENTED WAVE OF EMIGRATION FROM THEIR NATIVE LAND AS A WAY TO COPE WITH THE ONGOING SOCIO-ECONOMIC COLLAPSE OF THE COUNTRY. IN SEARCHING FOR STABILITY AWAY FROM HOME, AND IN LETTING GO OF THEIR ANCHORS, A SENSE OF DETACHMENT IS HARBORED.
EULOGY TO MY ROOTS QUESTIONS THE LAYERS OF LOSS AND THE LEGITIMACY OF THIS PATH TOWARDS FREEDOM. IN THE FORM OF ARTIFACTS CARVED IN CEDAR WOOD, AND COVERED IN WHITE PAINT, IT COMMEMORATES A JOURNEY WHERE A PROTAGONIST UNDERGOES DIFFERENT STAGES AND ATTEMPTS OF DETACHMENT AND ANCHORING.
IN PROCESSION, THE PROTAGONIST LONGS FOR SEPARATION AND TAKES US THROUGH A PROCESS OF GRIEF, FROM A STATE OF ROOTING TO ONE OF REROUTING, UPROOTING, AND FAILED ATTEMPTS IN BETWEEN. IN STAGNATION, WE WITNESS THE PROTAGONIST FALL OUTSIDE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT, ONLY TO REMAIN STUCK, UNABLE TO MOVE FORWARD, PAVING THE WAY FOR THEIR DOWNFALL.
IN THIS LAST INSTANCE, THE PREVIOUS JOURNEY IS QUESTIONED ONCE MORE; AS THE ABSENCE OF PHYSICAL ANCHORS IS COMPENSATED WITH HAUNTING MEMORIES OF THE ROOTS, CAN ONE EVER LET GO? CAN ONE EVER SAY GOODBYE TO THE LAST OF THEIR LEAVES?
