objects of war
TRANSCRIPT
This article was downloaded by: [University of Tasmania]On: 13 October 2014, At: 06:32Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Art JournalPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcaj20
Objects of WarLamia JoreigePublished online: 03 Apr 2014.
To cite this article: Lamia Joreige (2007) Objects of War, Art Journal, 66:2, 23-33, DOI:10.1080/00043249.2007.10791252
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2007.10791252
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Objects ofWar presents a series of testimonials on the Lebanese wars. Each person
chooses an object, ordinary or unusual, that serves as a starting point for his or
her story.These testimonials, while helping to create a collective memory, alsoshow the impossibility of telling a single history of this war. Only fragments of
this history are recounted here, held as truth by those expressing them. In Objects
ofWar, the aim is not to reveal a truth but rather to gather and confront many
diverse versions and discourses on the subject.Lamia Joreige Objects ofWarwas first shown in 2000, assembling the testimo-
nials of eleven persons. It continued in 2003 with Objects ofWar 2,
Objects ofWar gathering seven additional testimonials. This time however, andsince then, the recorded material is left unedited. The work of col
lecting and assembling these stories continued with Objects ofWar3 and 4 (2006).
Lamia joreige has presented her work in solo exhibitions in Egypt, France. and Lebanon. and in group exhibitions in the Middle East. Europe, and Asia, most recently the Second Biennial of Contemporary Art ofSeville. Her video work has also been featured in major film and video festivals in Toronto. Paris. Berlin.Rotterdam. Barcelona. Sao Paulo. and New York. She studied painting and film at the Rhode Island Schoolof Design. and currently lives and works in Beirut. She is one of five artists representing Lebanon at the52nd Venice Biennale this summer.
Following eight pages:
Lamia Joreige, video stills and transcribed texts from
Objects ofWar ',2000, video/video installation, 68 min., in Arabic and French, with English,French, and Arabic subtitles.
Objects ofWar 2, 2003, video/video installation, 85 min., in Arabic and English, with Englishand French subtitles.
Objects ofWar 3, 2006, video/video installation, 55 mln., in Arabic and English, with Englishsubtitles.
Objects ofWar 4, 2006, video/video installation, 72 min., in Arabic and French, with Englishsubtitles.
(artworks © Lamia Joreige)
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Zeina AridaObject: Miss Piggy bag-1 999
There was always one object along with us-and I say us because there were often
many of us-and this was my guitar. Every time I look at it, I think of all the persons
who had gathered around it. We were practically living as a community during the
war. ( ... ) We'd move around together everywhere; it was a necessity: it was very
important for us to gather every day. In the morning, we would check on everyone to
see if all were alive. ( ... ) One day, I remember, we were at a checkpoint-it was
January 25, my birthday-and there we got stuck for six hours at that checkpoint. It
was really funny: because we were a few, five or six of us, they decided to celebrate
my birthday at the checkpoint, and hopi-we pulled out the guitar. At that same
checkpoint a few months later, we were stuck there with a huge amount of cars lined
up, and bombs were falling nearby. I was screaming, telling myself: It can't be possi
ble, we risk being bombed in the car, and here we are, no one moves, no one com
plains, and people in front of me, behind me, were quietly waiting for their turn while
a bomb had just fallen less than six meters away, scattering its shrapnel. It was dan
gerous! ( ... ) I used to go through a lot of checkpoints-it was a sort of ... a way for
me to prove that I was alive. ( ... ) I behaved as if it would never interfere with my life
and continued to live normally as if nothing was going on, even though I knew that
one of these days someone could kill me because I belonged to a specific region or
a given religion.
24 SUMMER 2007
Dina FakhouryObject: Gultar-1999
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Rudy KhalilObject: Photograph of his parents'
living room-2ooS
I chose this photo, which is a photo of my parents inside their house, the one in
which I grew up in the suburbs in the area of Bir el Abed. That house was badly hit
during this war: the building must be pulled down. I chose the photo because when
I first went into the house-it was in shambles, dust everywhere-I saw this photo just
in front of me. I like it a lot because it's so Mom and Dad just as they really are. They
had sent me that photo while I was in the States, and I had sent them a photo too.
It reminds me of the war because I had a similar one, which I took myself,
but in Raouche, about fifteen years ago. I was in school; they came to see me; it was
Parents' Day; my mother was not yet wearing a hijab. ( ... )
So, to me, the war was worse for my parents more than for myself.
Because my house is now in Achrafieh, and it's strange that my parents should now
be staying with me. All they have worked for during their lifetime is this house in
which I grew up-which they were forced to leave and which will be demolished.
When the building will be pulled down and they build something new, I believe that,
as for me, my childhood will disappear. Already, when I went out on the balcony, I saw
that all the buildings around were destroyed. ( ... )
Sure, I will be sad when the house is demolished. It is the only place where
every time I'd visit my parents, I'd feel at peace as I went in, because this was my
house. So it's disturbing to think it will no longer exist. I can understand my parents
being greatly affected, but they won't show it. To them, life must go on.
-Is there hatred against Israel, the Hezbollah?
-I don't know. Hatred, no, I don't know, I have none. Not once, at home, did I curse
Hezbollah or Israel, although I had reason to curse Israel. I did not curse because
I didn't think of it, I don't think that way.
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They fired on the monastery. Bullets entered. The walls were hit but no one was hurt,
and they entered. The really strange thing, for me, was that it was the first time I ever
saw an Israeli. Before they came in, while they were firing, no one had ever imagined
in '82, that Israel could enter. ( ... ) It was the first time in my life that I felt hatred.
I felt something coming out of my stomach I had never felt before. In 1982, I think
I was seventeen or eighteen years old. I forgot. ( ... ) What was even stranger than
the feeling of hatred is that when this Israeli soldier came in and I dared to look at
him ... And I didn't look at him to provoke him or to hate him. I looked at him just to
observe, to see what this was. What could this possibly be? And then something
strange happened. I looked and saw: he has eyes ... a face. It was such a strange
feeling. ( ... ) If his face was aggressive, I'd have hated him even more. But his face
showed fear, and then he was very young. He was around twenty. In reality, he was a
kid. So suddenly this feeling of hatred evolved into this feeling, I don't want to say
humane, but rather a really objective feeling: that this is a person. These feelings for
me, these feelings were so new for me. This much hatred at the same time with this
much understanding of mankind, all at once, both born at the same instant, during
this assault.
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Chaza CharafeddineObject: Identity card with lost
photograph-Z003
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SaharOmranObject: "Heart to Heart" bear-2003
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Mazen KerbajObject: Drewlng-ZOOS
Yehia JabarObject: Ballpoint and paper-ZOOS
This ballpoint is a very close friend, it's a fuse to my temper, it is my refuge in war.
And the toughest war was, for me, from July 12 till today. I used to write every day in
a notebook to get to know for the first time the confession to which I belong, of
which I had been separated, absent, exiled: that is the Shi'a confession, which is
vanishing after this war.
I was very much afraid for my numerous relatives, afraid for Lebanon, and I
used to write every day to get to know these people before they and I disappear. ( ... )
I very much doubt that we will remain and that Lebanon will survive, and I
am writing to say farewell to Lebanon. -Yehia Jaber.
-Can you read a small excerpt from your diary?
-These are just sketches ...
Are these planes or ventilators?
Are these barges or soul extractors?
This is Oana, are these feet or trousers?
Are these hands or long-sleeved shirts?
Are these heads or hats and caps?
Are these children or a clothesline?
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Bassam Kahwagi
Object: National Panasonicradlo-2003
This object does not belong to me, but to my father. My father, before the war, was a
businessman. With the war his life changed; he went through very hard periods. ( ... )
When he stopped working and was forced to stay home he changed. He
became, to me and to my brothers, a new man, another man. A new life began for
him. He must have had projects for the future-he was a successful man-but
things changed. The war began, we stayed in our house but had to take shelter dur
ing the bombings. In the first period of war, my father came home one day with this
radio. It stayed in the house for all the war. And I still remember it because it was a
special radio. In early 1975, radios were not like this, but much simpler. ( ... )
This radio, my father never used it to listen to music, I never saw him do
so. He only used it when the shelling began. When the war started again, the radio
reappeared. I believe this radio had something special, it reassured my father about
his status as paterfamilias-head of the family. That was his link with what was hap
pening in the outside world. He was no longer working, going to the office. He could
n't play the role of the man bringing news from the outside, fresh news, being reas
suring to his children. All he could do was listen to the news; it was his only link to
the outside world.
Fawzieh ChahrourObject: Photograph of her sister,
a war martyr-2003
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Ghayth EI Amine
Object: Mlnl-DV case-2006
What are some of the objects of war in your first work with this title? A pack of play
ing cards, to while away the time when shelling and gunfights were going on; batter
ies, to be able to listen to news reports on the radio, especially news flashes con
cerning a sometimes radically changing zone of fighting; a flashlight, etc. So given
these previous objects of war, I've chosen my Credits Included: A Video in Red and
Green [1995], as well as this "interview:' and the unedited mini-DV on which it's
being recorded as my objects of war. ( ... ) In a similar vein, I consider your own
video and installation as an object of war. Therefore, and unlike its presentation in
the exhibition DisORIENTation at the House of World Cultures [Berlin, 2003], I rec
ommend that you place alongside the other objects a copy of the video of the "inter
views" you're making. According to Marx in his "11 th Thesis on Feuerbach" [1845]:
"Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to
change it." Certainly, barring some global catastrophe that would destroy life on Earth,
once a future very advanced state of development is reached, these two alternatives
will no longer exclude each other: it will no longer be possible to change the world
without interpreting/understanding it. But even presently, I consider that these two
options do not exclude each other, but rather complement each other: one has to try
to interpret the world as a whole in such a way as to deserve what occurred to us
while trying to change it, especially the unbearable we underwent while we were try
ing to change other unbearable states of affairs. The latter option is one of the major
tasks of artists, writers, videomakers, and filmmakers. ( ... ) For the most part, the
Lebanese do not deserve the civil war and the war they underwent (1975-90): this
is neither in the sense that they would have been mere pawns manipulated by
regional and global powers; nor in the sense that their country would have been
the arena for the conflicts and power struggles of others, including the Palestinian
refugees, on their land, etc.; but in the sense that they are not worthy of what hap
pened to them: for the most part, they do not merit their war-produced ruins; the
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radical closure that Beirut may have become in 1982; the withdrawal of tradition
past the surpassing disaster that Lebanon may have turned into by the latter stages
of its civil war and war; the eerie
videotaped testimonies of those
soon to do a suicidal operation
against the Israeli occupation
forces in Lebanon: "I am the mar
tyr Sana' YOsif Muhaydli" etc. ( ... )
Any work that makes us
feel that we deserve what hap
pened to us is a memorial. That
is why I am including Credits
Included: A Video in Red and
Green and other videos here,
because I think they are trying to
do this, and they complement the
other objects of war that are just
memories or reminders of the war.
Jalal ToutleObject: VHS of his video CredIts
Included and mlnl-DV of ObJectsofWa,....2003
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Name of participant
Zeina Arida
Una Saneh
Antoine Bachaani
Samir Frangieh
Rose Kettaneh
Nisrine Khodr
Fatmeh Bittar
Rabih Mroue
Asma Andraos
Dina Fakhoury
Akram Zaatari
Chaddia NajlarToumaArida
Ramzi Moufarrej
Zico
Ali Nassar
Nadine Touma
Christine Tohme
Mona EI Waked
Chaza Charafeddine
Rasha Salti
Pierre Abi Saab
Fouad EI-Khoury
Fawzieh Chahrour
Jalal Toufic
SaharOmran
Mohamad Soueid
Norma Pontaoui
Vera Majdalani
Walid Raad
Walid Sadek
Tony Chakar
Fawaz Traboulsi
Jacques Aswad
Saleh Barakat
Karim Kobeissi
Georges Sioufi
Bassam Kahwagi
Bilal Khbeiz
Bernard Khoury
Ruth Akatcherian
Samar Abi Zeid
Joe Ghosn
Zaki Mahfouz
Johnny Farah
Omar Boustany
Mazen Kerbaj
Rudy Khalil
Tarek Atoui
Yehia Jaber
Charbel Haber
Hania Mroue
Ghayth EI Amine
Fadi Toufic
Zeina Maasri
Laure Ghorayeb
Georges Arbid
Nathalie B. Khoury
Sarah Trad
Maher Abi Samra
Rita Aoun
Sandra Dagher
Wadih Safieddine
Ghassan Salhab
Nationality
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Palestinian/Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Palestinian
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Palestinian
Iraki/Lebanese
Iraki/Lebanese
Lebanese
Philippino
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Palestinian/Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese
Date of request
19991999199919991999199919991999199919991999199919991999200020002000200020022003200320032003200320032003200320032003200420042004200420052005200520052005200520052005200520052005200520052006200520062006200620062000-200620062006200620062006200620062006200620062006
Object chosen
Miss Piggy bag
Beer can wrapped in a Kleenex
Torchlight
Batteries
Pouch
Playing cards
Curtain
Jerrycan
Class photograph
Guitar
Audiotape
Suitcase
Radio UHF
Car
Miniature car
Plastic pipe
Teddy bear
Picon cheese box
Wool blanket
Identity card with lost photograph
Walkman
Worry beads
Photograph of her sister
VHS of his video Credits Included & mini-DV of Objects of war
"Heart to Heart" bear
Book on cinema
Candle
Sound
Aluminum cigarette sheets
Silver perfume flask
Drawing of house plan & Photograph of Lamia at age 10
Audiotape
National Panasonic Radio
The key of his apartment
Plastic watch with photograph of Aoun
Drawing
A photograph of his parents' living room.
Plastic watering can
Ballpoint and paper from a notebook
MiniDisc
Passport
MiniDV tape case
Red candle
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2005 DVD3-track3 20062005 DVD3-track4 20062005 DVD3-track5 20062005
2005 DVD3-track1 2006
DVD3-track2 2006DVD2-track1 2003DVD2-track2 2003
DVD2-track3 2003DVD2-track4 2003DVD2-track5 2003DVD2-track6 2003DVD2-track7 2003DVD3-track6 2006
State of request & comments
Approved
Approved
Approved
Approved
Approved
Approved
Approved
ApprovedApproved
ApprovedApproved
Approved-Unreleased for technical reasons
Approved-Unreleased for technical reasonsApproved-Unreleased for technical reasons & Object not transportable
Approved-Unreleased for technical reasons
Approved-Unreleased for technical reasons
Approved-Unreleased for technical reason & Object kept by ownerApproved-Unreleased for technical reasons
Approved
Approved
Approved
Approved-Delayed due to hesitation after political changes in the country.Approved
Approved
Approved
ApprovedApproved
Approved
Approved-Unreleased-The object can't be physically presented
He does not want to participate for the moment
He does not want to participate for the moment
He does not want to participate for the momentHe does not want to participate
ApprovedApproved
Approved
Approved-Unreleased for technical reasons
ApprovedWaiting for an answer
Approved-Waiting to be filmed
Waiting for an answer
Approved-Waiting to be filmed
Approved-Waiting to be filmedApproved-Waiting to be filmed
Approved
Delayed due to political situation in the country-Approved
ApprovedApproved
ApprovedApprovedApproved
Approved
Approved-Unreleased for technical reasons-Filmed again in 2006He doesn't have an object for the momentShe doesn't have an object for the momentShe doesn't like to be filmed
He doesn't have an object for the momentApproved-Waiting to be filmed
Approved-Waiting to be filmedHe does not want to participate
Approved-Then preferred not to participateApproved-She's looking for an objectApproved-To be released
He doesn't have an object for the moment
3 3 art journal
Date of filming
1999
1999
1999
1999
1999
1999
1999
19991999
1999
1999
1999
1999
1999
2000
2000
20002000
2002
2003
2003
20032003
2003
2003
2003
20032003
2006
2006
2006
20062006
2006200620062000-2006
2006
DVD & track no.
DVDHrack1
DVDHrack2
DVDHrack3
DVDHrack4
DVDHrack5
DVD l-track6
DVDHrack7
DVDHrack8DVDHrack9
DVDHrack10DVDHrack11
DVD4-track2
DVD4-track9DVD4-track1
DVD4-track3
DVD4-track4DVD4-track5
DVD4-track6DVD4-track7
DVD4-track8
Date of release
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
20002000
2000
2000
2006
2006
20062006
2006
20062006
20062006
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