The interactive installation by Ila Firouzabadi and Payam Mofidi deals with the theme of war. Archival images from different countries and video portraits of imaginary characters who have lived through war and are recounting their stories are shown. Shaping a path, the images are projected from the ceiling towards the floor for the public who must make them visible against their hands or a piece of paper, or project them on the wall with a small mirror. These symbolic actions remind of the importance of civilians’ role in wartime as they make visible the misery and bitterness that conflict causes. The public’s participation through the use of their hands highlights the daily presence of war in our lives, and aims to make it more palpable for those who have perhaps never experienced it.
* The installation’s title comes from the poem “Ballad of the Water of the Sea” by Federico García Lorca, published in The Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca, New Directions, 1955.