March 28, 2009
August 15, 2008
Shock Art Reaches A New “High”
Or “Low” — depending on how you look at it (excerpted from Artinfo):
Complex Shit by Paul McCarthy (2008)
BERN, Switzerland—Paul McCarthy’s Complex Shit, a giant inflatable dog turd, escaped from its moorings at the Zentrum Paul Klee last week and brought down a power line and broke a window before landing on the grounds of a children’s home 200 meters away, the Guardian reports. Although the unintended flight happened on July 31, details emerged only yesterday.
The McCarthy piece, which is reportedly the size of a house, is part of the exhibition “East of Eden: A Garden Show,” which runs through October 26. According to Juri Steiner, the director of the Klee center, the museum was not yet sure if the work would go back on display.
You can find info about the exhibition here.
May 26, 2008
May 8, 2008
Marooned In Iraq: The Simplest of Pleasures
From the opening sound of fighter jets streaking past the mountain tops in Kurdistan, you know that Marooned in Iraqby Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi is going to explore the way people acclimate to life filled with endless war, conflicts and displacement. Having seen Ghobadi’s A Time For Drunken Horses (a heartbreaking story of Kurdish children who survive by leading illegal caravans between Iran and Iraq as black market smugglers) and Turtles Can Fly(which depicts a village full of orphaned Kurdish children on the Iraq-Turkey border perched on the verge of hope right before the American invasion of Iraq and the subsequent fall of Saddam), this was my third film by the director who I consider one of the leading young filmmakers in World Cinema. His films are exquisitely crafted, with breathtaking visuals and powerful performances (often by non-professionals) who Ghobadi nurtures to bring reality to life in his films. Marooned in Iraq is no different.
The film depicts the story of two brothers (Barat and Audeh) whose father (Mirza) hears that the wife (Hanareh) who deserted him many years before, running off with his best friend, has now been stranded in Iraq. The family is one of musicians and thus, the film — and their journey — is one filled with music, and surprisingly laughter. In fact, Hanareh was also a successful singer and had fled Iran after the Revolution when authorities banned women singing in public. Early on we learn that the father never really divorced her twenty-three years earlier, as he tells his son he made up that story to preserve the family honor! One can’t help but feel the wry irony at the revelation.
The father and sons set off on the motorcycle and side-car that belongs to Barat and head for Iraq — which in this case means that Audeh has to leave his 7 wives and 11 daughters! He soon decides this will be the perfect occasion to pick up another wife on his trip (to bear him the son he is missing) so tells one of his wives to ready the “wedding room”. And the journey begins. The three men don’t actually know it but they will each find something that will change their lives in ways they could not have predicted.
Gobhadi’s films always show the struggles of everyday life in this world. In this case that means back-breaking labor making sun-dried mud bricks in the same manner originated by the ancient Sumerians and turning old metal shipping containers into habitats. But the life is also full of music and dance — even children help to mix the mud for the bricks by essentially dancing barefoot in it up to their calfs. This is contrasted with an overcrowded refugee camp encircled with razor wire, where multiple generations will survive the cold, harsh winter in tents but also enjoy the spontaneous and unexpected concert put on by Audeh and Barat. Once again, the introduction of something as simple as music brings a sparkle to the eyes of young children. These marked contrasts in Marooned In Iraq are thought provoking and keep the film flowing between the broad range of human emotions.
Marooned In Iraqis one of those films that takes people in the most pitiful circumstances and shows you there is always someone worse off, highlighting the human survival instinct. These men who themselves lead a somewhat hard-scrabble life are confronted with the even greater hardships on their journey. After all, isn’t it human instinct to remind yourself to be thankful when you see the pain and suffering of others? This is one of the things Ghobadi does best.
May 3, 2008
Protected: How Can We Have Peace In The Middle East When We Can’t Even Debate With Civility And Reason?
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May 2, 2008
In This Life: In This World
Many of us think of life as a journey. But what if you never reached home on that journey? What if you didn’t really have a home and the journey was taking you to a place you didn’t know if you would even be welcomed to?
That is the story of Michael Winterbottom’s In This World, a film about two Afghani refugees who undertake the daunting journey to what is supposed to be a better life in London. Jamal was born into a refugee camp on the Afghan border of the NWFP but when we are introduced to the adolescent he is orphaned and working as a brickmaker. His uncle agrees to send him along with his cousin Enayatullah to London since Jamal speaks English and can help his cousin face the challenges that lay ahead.
The journey that ensues is the dark world of human trafficking. It involves very little human kindness: a Kurdish family that welcomes them into their home before they travel over the snowy mountain peaks into Turkey; and a few moments of sharing hopes with a young Irani family that is escaping to a better life in Denmark. Rather, as so often is the case, it is a heart wrenching journey that involves financial exploitation, getting caught by the police, horrendous traveling and living conditions, forced labor, and even death for the most unfortunate human cargo.
Jamal’s journey takes him from a life with little hope in the NWFP to a lonely hard life in Europe, selling trinkets on the street, stealing a purse, and stowing away under a tractor trailer in France headed for the UK. Once he arrives in London, the film shifts back to where the journey began when Jamal calls his uncle to tell him he is in London but that Enayatullah is no longer in this world. Jamal is still in this world — but what kind of world is it for him and all the displaced persons like him? Isn’t there more we can do to help people to work legally (and safely) in other countries so they can support families back home and try to make a better life for themselves?
As some of you know I used to be married to an Afghani. We are still very close and I have the most respect for his own journey, which included walking out of Afghanistan from Gardez on foot as a young adolescent; over the mined mountains into a refuge camp in the NWFP of Pakistan; becoming a street vendor at the age of 12 tryng to help support a family of 3 boys left at home, his mother and 5 sisters; teaching himself the trade of jewelry making; paying off a corrupt Pakistani to get him a visa to come and work in Doha as a jeweler, only to discover he was put to work doing construction without any shelter, proper clothes, equipment or even food; meeting a corrupt Pakistani imam who agreed to get him new sponsorship that would allow him to open his own jewelry shop and then stole all his money and even the customers jewelry before locking him out of the shop.
That is when I came into the picture. I was one of those customers and I took the imam to the police on behalf of my friend (who later became my husband) and got his tools, gemstones, jewelry and customer’s property back; as well as went to his sponsor to make sure that he would be allowed to open a new shop and work on his own. God bless his sponsor, a very nice Qatari gentleman, who has never asked for anything from my ex-husband and helped him with visas, licensing and anything else he needs.
My Afghani ex-husband has made quite a journey, too. While married we traveled to Thailand where he made important business contacts and visited London where he met up with some Afghani friends who had made Jamal’s journey in real life. He has since made friends from all over the world as people make their way through Doha, and has accepted invitations to visit them in their homes — all on his Afghani passport that was among the first to be issued to someone here in Doha after the fall of the Taliban.
Yesterday I was in his shop, admiring photos of his travels when I came across a few that were from his time in Gardez and Peshawar. He was such a handsome young boy but had such a serious expression that revealed the weight of his burdens. I thought to myself as I looked from the sorrowful eyes of that little boy to the man with the dancing eyes standing before me: “How far he has come in this world, maash’Allah!”
April 18, 2008
March 9, 2008
Protected: Could You Sell Your Child? Could You Buy Someone’s Child?
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February 28, 2008
Update: An Apology
I have deleted the post from the Wahabbi Misanthrope. He has contacted me and apologized for his behavior and explained some issues that he is struggling with. Insha’Allah, he will get the help he needs.
Wahabbi Misanthrope: Please be careful what you write and work on your anger management skills. Take care.
