The Connivance of Watching Birds

The project began the project in the summer of 2010 while doing the Art Direction for the feature film The Crayons of Askalan, directed by my sister and collaborator Laila Hotait. The shooting of our film took place in different locations in Lebanon and Syria, with Palestinian actors from various refugee camps in Lebanon. While in production on the feature, I conceived of the video-installation The Connivance of Watching Birds.

The installation has a different approach to that of the film by isolating the experiences we had while making the film, and exploring how being involved in telling the story of the other shapes our own history. My intention was to divert particular elements of the film, such as the costumes, the locations, and the durational framework, to evoke a life outside of their original representational uses. The Connivance of Watching Birds gradually became an allegorical exploration of the time of waiting, limbo as seen through the eyes of Palestinians in prison and the parallel life of Palestinians in a refugee camp.