Curator’s Statement
Tales often revolve around the real life in a certain period, with storytelling functioning as a form of disguised criticism of society or illustrating aspects of the storyteller’s point of view.
In this sense, tales always try to approach taboos and prohibitions. Their dense fabric often touches on aspects of our lives, both political and social, usually concealing in its folds some underlying criticism of everyday life.
I was always captivated by the heroic deeds within these stories and the hero’s glorious victory. First consulting the book that never leaves his hand, the storyteller begins narrating the tale or story, which invariably involves heroism, bravery, honor, chivalry, and support for the downtrodden. Good, in the form of the hero, triumphs every time.
In his role as a story-maker, the storyteller uses his words to weave diverse images and emotions and send them into our imagination, creating long-lasting ideas and images in our minds that are occasionally resurrected in the form of lived reactions. In this way, the listener becomes the storyteller and begins to compose a tale joined to his own life.
Thus does the story branch out to permeate people’s daily lives. The imagination becomes part of reality, woven by the fantasies of the storytellers and their listeners over the years.
Stories have long played an important role in the social and political history of the region, though they have taken different forms and roles in our own day with the adoption of new components and technical developments. Nevertheless, we still find a great interest in the basic elements of the story, even though the elements overlap, attach different aspects to the story, change and present it in various forms. And in spite of all these changes, there is still a great interest in telling stories, and it is visible in many art works.
I have always been fascinated by this evolution: an oral story in which the words play the major role in stimulating the imagination becomes a work driven by the filmmaker or the artist in which the image plays the major role, transforming the audience from listeners into viewers.
This transformation in the Arabic story is perhaps the thing that most fascinates me. The story’s major role in our history is well known, and it has now come to occupy broad spaces in the visual arts, to draw these images in our minds and give voice to our concerns.
The observer of video art in the region may see a new form of the story. Narrative storytelling is not absent from video. Even when its elements are not entirely visible, we can discern them in the many works that goad the viewer to let his imagination loose to form images and a plot to go with the work, without neglecting a space for the viewer’s own creativity.
What change has occurred in the shift from narrative storytelling to artistic narrative? How have tales and epics been transformed as they pass from the storyteller to the filmmaker and artist? And how have the elements of the story changed?
Tales still circulate that relate the stories of Arab peoples and their hopes, dreams, pains, and convictions. Though the storyteller and setting have changed, the art of the story is never-ending, even when it comes in a new form.
In this sense, tales always try to approach taboos and prohibitions. Their dense fabric often touches on aspects of our lives, both political and social, usually concealing in its folds some underlying criticism of everyday life.
I was always captivated by the heroic deeds within these stories and the hero’s glorious victory. First consulting the book that never leaves his hand, the storyteller begins narrating the tale or story, which invariably involves heroism, bravery, honor, chivalry, and support for the downtrodden. Good, in the form of the hero, triumphs every time.
In his role as a story-maker, the storyteller uses his words to weave diverse images and emotions and send them into our imagination, creating long-lasting ideas and images in our minds that are occasionally resurrected in the form of lived reactions. In this way, the listener becomes the storyteller and begins to compose a tale joined to his own life.
Thus does the story branch out to permeate people’s daily lives. The imagination becomes part of reality, woven by the fantasies of the storytellers and their listeners over the years.
Stories have long played an important role in the social and political history of the region, though they have taken different forms and roles in our own day with the adoption of new components and technical developments. Nevertheless, we still find a great interest in the basic elements of the story, even though the elements overlap, attach different aspects to the story, change and present it in various forms. And in spite of all these changes, there is still a great interest in telling stories, and it is visible in many art works.
I have always been fascinated by this evolution: an oral story in which the words play the major role in stimulating the imagination becomes a work driven by the filmmaker or the artist in which the image plays the major role, transforming the audience from listeners into viewers.
This transformation in the Arabic story is perhaps the thing that most fascinates me. The story’s major role in our history is well known, and it has now come to occupy broad spaces in the visual arts, to draw these images in our minds and give voice to our concerns.
The observer of video art in the region may see a new form of the story. Narrative storytelling is not absent from video. Even when its elements are not entirely visible, we can discern them in the many works that goad the viewer to let his imagination loose to form images and a plot to go with the work, without neglecting a space for the viewer’s own creativity.
What change has occurred in the shift from narrative storytelling to artistic narrative? How have tales and epics been transformed as they pass from the storyteller to the filmmaker and artist? And how have the elements of the story changed?
Tales still circulate that relate the stories of Arab peoples and their hopes, dreams, pains, and convictions. Though the storyteller and setting have changed, the art of the story is never-ending, even when it comes in a new form.
Biography
Abir Boukhari is a curator of video art from Damascus, Syria. In 2005 she founded AllArtNow, a private cultural, artistic, and social initiative supporting young Syrian artists. She has organized various local and international art events.
