The exhibition comprises entirely media works, 12 in total, the scale and placement varying. Some require headphones to hear the soundtrack, most merge with each other in the space as an auditory montage. Sound is as important an element as the visuals, as what we choose to listen to can also inform what we know. The walls are a uniform colour recalling a fireball sun as it fuses into a horizon. The hue shifts depending on the light radiating from the video installations, absorbing you entirely; eyes continually having to readjust to the switching density of light. The impact is overwhelming, the intensity demanding your attention in an encounter with a metropolis and its edge conditions. Forest and shorelines along with landfills and abandoned domestic spaces prevail visually. Although bereft of sentimentality, the longing for Beirut and its meaning as a place where one resides physically, as well as emotionally, is ever present.

Read full article on Canvas: Magazine Art and Culture from the Middle East and Arab World.

IMAGE: Ava Margueritte