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Chapter (13)
~ Sun-Kissed
Oracle is a short, experimental work of videopoetry, where Leena Aboutaleb narrates her long-form prose poem over scenes shot on Super 8 film by Youssef ElNahas, with sound by Raouf Nefzi. It debuted at Nusca Festival in Venice.
The film derives inspiration from Etel Adnan’s ‘Le Livre de la Mer,’ as we meditate on the Mediterranean Sea and our relationship to it. Our choice of location emerges from our shared homeland of Egypt and our inspiration from the work of Sappho, Constantine Cavafy, and Etel Adnan. Utilising their mythos and works, Oracle is crafted to map a beginning in our artistic practice by exploring the Mediterranean Sea and our relationships to it. We invite the audience to witness our homes on the Eastern Mediterranean, Palestine and Egypt, and the relationships we share with neighbouring lands.
We are interested not only in the death the sea holds but the legacy of eternity within it; from oracles to poets, pirates and myths, ports and trades, we understand the long and complicated histories we have and are from in this sea.
In our questions, we think of how the sea impacts and informs our lives—from movement to landscape and more—and ourselves. The landscapes we live in literally inform the way we live and thus our language, navigation, and senses of self. It is not only based on lineage, but something lived and honest and true, regardless if one wants to deny such claims.
Our practice in Oracle focuses on this: what waters make us, and what land divines us? Through these questions and the study of how we live and speak and love and breathe, we hope to continue creating space for both reflection and refraction.
SCREENINGS
About the team
Leena Aboutaleb (b. 1996) is an Egyptian and Palestinian writer. Her practice weaves conversations between this world and the next as she explores the temporality of her land and family. She works in landscapes, lineage, ghosts and the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Youssef ElNahas (b. 1995) is an Egyptian artist based in Britain. His work with the lens, on the page, and in the archive is driven by a need to document the world around and within him. Inspired by Mediterranean landscapes and historical narratives, recurring themes in his practice include identity and immigration, dialogues between the past and the present, and exploration of human interactions with nature.