DESCENSION, 2011, HD video, 1080 x 1920 ratio, color, sound, 8:40 second loop in installation. The room is lined with floor cushions and a bench to suggest a majlis (an Arabic meeting room). The projector is mounted inside of a box. The video is projected onto the ceiling. A decorative pattern is stenciled on the walls of the room and the box.
The video is a single take of three camels feeding on grass above the camera lens. It was shot in March 2011 in Fayoum, Egypt just after the January 25 Revolution.
Imaginings, beliefs, aspirations depart to individual realms.
Gravity, hunger, need unite at this solitary hole.
Nomad, cultivator (and tourist) dwell on this immutable clod.
Cradles quake, civilizations submit, revolutions orbit this steady sand.
The camera holds, camels bend, grass falls, and insects crawl — a glimpse of our collective Egypt.
DESCENSION premiered in Sites of Passage at The Mattress Factory, September 9, 2011 - February 12, 2012, curated by Tavia La Follette
It also screened at Outpost for Contemporary Art, Pasadena CA, March 15 -April 13, 2014, curated by Alanna Simone.
To preview video: https://vimeo.com/38608685
