You
Will Be Killed, 2006, video animation & paintings, 5'
56"
You Will Be Killed
video animation and paintings by Amal Kenawy
"You Will be Killed" is a video project that is compiled from
a collection of drawings through which I expose man’s inner
being and memories by projecting his dreams onto a wall.
Some of the symbols in the film define the location in which
a specific incident, stored in a person's memory, has taken
place, while other symbols shed light on the person himself,
in an attempt to explain his relationship to his surroundings.
I believe that any incident in one’s life is not indicative
of one's geographical whereabouts but rather of one's feelings,
memories, and motives. The beginning of the film “You Will
Be Killed” came to me during a visit to a military hospital
built thirty years ago in Egypt under British colonization.
At that time, I was searching for a location in which to execute
my project for the Singapore Biennale of 2006. The hospital
triggered memories of war within my imagination. War is a
direct outlet or expression of violence; my aim, however,
was to show that expressions of violence include far more
than just war. I wanted to explore the effect of violence
on man, on his relation to himself, and on his memories. Hence,
I used images such as a person's picture, his face, and my
own picture… images of a person who is trying to fit into
his environment but is unable to do so, even within the drawings
on the walls of places that seem to devour him incessantly.
In this film, a person's memories and his relation to himself
and his environment are exposed; he is depicted as either
an absent or static observer while the walls around him move
dynamically. Throughout the animation, the person and his
surroundings exchange their roles, eventually leading to a
fading away of the line that separates their original functions.
Violence is the prime mover in this work; it is the force
that delineates the essence of the relationship between man
and his surroundings.
- Amal Kenawy
Personal Statement
|
press
clips