Gardens Speak

xx OUR EVERYDAY LIVES

Lebanon/Great Britain / 2014 / 60'
Sound Installation

“… even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he wins.”
– Walter Benjamin

Gardens Speak is an interactive sound installation containing the oral histories of 10 ordinary people who have been buried in Syrian gardens. Each narrative has been carefully constructed in collaboration with the friends and family members of the deceased, retelling their stories as they themselves would have recounted them. They are compiled with found audio that evidences their final moments.

Production Manager : Jessica Harrington 
Research Assistant and Writer (Arabic): Keenana Issa
Calligraphy and Tombstones Design: Dia Batal 
Set Design: Abir Saksouk 
Set Construction: SPLEX Flexible Designs & Presentation 
Sound Recording & Editing: Khairy Eibesh (Stronghold Sound)

Co-commissioned by Fierce, Next Wave and Live at LICA. Developed through the Artsadmin Artists’ Bursary Scheme.
Supported by Arts Council of England and British Council.

Organisation: City of Women. In collaboration with Bunker / Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana