LET US STOP AND WEEP | Georges Salameh

Georges Salameh presents his personal project LET US STOP AND WEEP / وقوف على الأطلال at KET on Saturday, March 14th.

LET US STOP AND WEEP is a body of work inspired by the poetry and life of Imru’l Qais – امرؤ القيس, an Arab poet and author of one of seven famous “suspended poems” from the time of Jahiliyyah, the pre-Islamic era.

It’s composed by images, objects, documents, archives, texts and audiovisual materials. They are a meditation on origins; its ruins and wanderings.

“Since my escape from Lebanon on a high speed ferry, toward the end of the civil war, visits to the country of my birth are rare. After several failed attempts to document these few “returns”, I ended up discovering locations of unexplored territories and prohibited traumascapes*, extending my travel towards “home”. Instead of approaching destination, the journey seems endless, as if returning was impossible and self-exile had become a state of spirit.

Awaiting oblivion, these findings were morphed into short narrations, visual or written. Some elements were rescued out of the treasure island’s box called ‘childhood’ and some lost for ever. Since the beginning of this journey in 2000, I also harboured some objects and items, ‘survivors’ from my own and other relatives’ migrations”. – Georges Salameh

*Traumascapes are sites associated with the painful past. Remembering and representing this bitter past plays a crucial role in shaping the future through learning and experiencing.

More info: www.georgessalameh.blogspot.com

Part of the material was presented at Détours Santorini S8mm Film Festival (Oia, Greece, August 2010), Super8FF (Milano, Italy, November 2010), Biennale 5 (Thessaloniki, Greece, July – Sept 2015), Museo Riso (Palermo, 2016), Culturescapes (Basel, Switzerland, Oct. 2017 – Jan. 2018). A bigger part of the material was presented in the exhibition “Origini” at Dimora Oz (Palermo, Sicily, 2015).