reviews LIDA ABDUL
LidA AbduL: whAt we sAw
upon AwAkening
LocAtIon one, new York
4 octoBer – 17 novemBer
What We Saw Upon Awakening, 2006, 16mm film transferred to DvD, 6 min 50 sec. © the artist. courtesy Giorgio Persano Gallery, turin, and Location one, new York
A quarter-century of invasion, civil war and violence has devastated and long shots reveal a group of men, all dressed in black, pulling on ropes,
Afghanistan. Dotted with architectural and military debris, this ravaged engaged in a strenuous tug of war with something off-camera. As they
landscape serves as both inspiration and location for Lida Abdul’s recent lean back, shuffle their feet, struggle to establish a foothold – an apt visual
short films. Shot using nonactors, the films enact public performances metaphor for postwar reconstruction – their movements seem to enact a
of mourning, ritualistic repetitions of acts that often engage directly perverse maypole dance, a playful rite of spring awakening. Eventually their
with destroyed buildings and monuments and attempt to sublimate the adversary, the monumental ruin of a bombed-out building, is revealed. As
profound personal and collective trauma into rituals of healing and rebirth. the camera alternates between straining men and stubborn ruin, the futility
Abdul’s interest in architecture, which serves as material metaphor for both of their struggle to destroy the material traces of trauma becomes clear; to
the nation and its people, stems from a long-standing engagement with effectively heal, traumatic memories must be acknowledged and gradually
‘home’, a common interest among exiled artists. forgotten, not summarily erased. A silent, pathos-filled closing sequence
While Abdul has exhibited widely since her participation in the suggests hope: three men solemnly bury a single boulder. The act is as
first Afghanistan pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale, her exposure much a symbolic interment as a ritual of rebirth, the stone a sown seed from
in New York has been limited to White House (2005), included in the which Afghanistan’s new architecture might grow.
Brooklyn Museum of Art’s recent Global Feminisms, which documents her Abdul’s films, especially those involving groups, like What We Saw
ritualistic whitewashing of ruins in Kabul. It’s surprising, then, that Abdul’s Upon Awakening, bear more than a passing resemblance to Shirin Neshat’s
New York solo debut at Location One is limited to a single work, albeit late-1990s dual-channel installations. In Abdul’s case the feminist critique
a monumentally projected one. What We Saw Upon Awakening (2006) is not explicit; women’s oppression is conveyed through their complete
opens with a dramatic shot of a black-sleeved arm tugging a white rope, absence from these public rituals. While Abdul’s films sincerely and
together forming a strong bisecting diagonal. Such compositional rigour sensitively capture the many complexities inherent in dealing with a long
defines the flurry of short takes that follow: silent slow-motion close- legacy of trauma as Afghanistan embarks on a fraught physical and psychic
ups of rope-entwined arms and straining legs. The carefully composed postwar reconstruction, like Neshat’s films they run the risk of perpetuating
soundtrack, minimal with an occasional hollow thump or gravelly crackle, is a Western stereotype, one that continues to envision Afghanistan as a land
windy and post-apocalyptic, mimicking the almost lunar landscape. Middle of permanent ruin. Murtaza Vali
Artreview 138
December_REVIEWS.indd 138 2/11/07 12:18:30
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