Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue), 2017
Film, 18 min.
Hiwa K, Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue), 2017, digital video, color, sound, courtesy the artist and KOW, Berlin
When Hiwa K embarked on the journey from his native Sulaymaniyah in Kurdistan-Northern Iraq to become a refugee in Turkey, Greece, and Italy, packed in his bag were only some of his abstract paintings. He revisits part of this journey in this video. While his body was transiting borders, his identity was fragmented into the many roles projected onto him by the gazes of others. These are symbolically represented by the small mirrors that branch out of the antenna he balances on his nose. His image is shattered and merges with the landscape. The anecdotes, memories, and other stories he recalls are what kept his spirit alive and steadily rooted while his life was exposed to death.
Part of Propositions #1: What We Mean.
