Delirium 2006 The installation of fingerprints here are part of over 250 stamps collected from acquaintances and friends of African, Middle Eastern, Asian, European, and American background. The genealogy of each fingerprint, however, transcends the geography of their continental locales. The colors used for painting over the fingerprints are inspired by the different skin tones that people in different locations use to identify themselves or to racialize others, such as using the skin color red, brown, wheat, yellow, green, blue-black (in Sudan), or white-black-yellow (in America). Despite the variations among these colored fingerprints, their similarities lie in their humanness, yet also speak of unsettled differences. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Water and Fire: Message from my hometown Sennar 2006 Water and Fire Is a cry from my hometown Sinnar, on the banks of the Blue Nile. A cry for peace, against dictatorship, torture, and cruelty. A demand for justice to political prisoners, all over the world From Khartoum. Abu Gahrib. to Guantanamo. This visual message is dedicated to Sami. A Sudanese videographer, from my hometown, who has been in Guantanamo for five years ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Refugee Memoirs 2005-2006 This installation features sound, and includes about 300 hand-made ceramic “pages,” some of which hang on the wall. Others hang from the ceiling and several are crumpled and are arranged on a floor covered with sand. The visual work is arranged in a gallery setting with sound background. Power and politics have created more than 700,000 victims of war in Iraq. Racial conflicts and genocide in Rwanda and Sudan are among the world's atrocities. More than 40.9 million people around the world have died of HIV-AIDS, including more than 5 million children, most of them in Africa. The number of people who die around the world rises daily. The disasters of the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina have created not only fatalaties, but also refugees numbering in the thousands. Are also behind the deaths of many, these catastrophes have created many refugees. All of this is related to political conflict, corruption, occupation, and exploitation of the resources of others. News of death and disaster, often without historical and political analysis of their causes, isolates us from the survivors who have no voice. I seek to give a voice to refuees from disasters, both man-made and natural. In my work I am collaborating with more than thirty people from all over the world to record the multi-lingual background sound to support my visual installation. The sound tracks include more than twenty languages, and focus on the shared experiences of many people from different countries including India, Afghanistan, South Africa, USA, Italy, France, and Ethiopia. Activists who work to influence social change and resist ideologies of war and destruction read testimonies and poems of love and freedom. Languages of love and art can bind people together despite national boundaries. The rhythm of drums that will accompany the production will also serve as another language. In the end, visual work and sound work together to signify harmony, peace, and love.
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