YOU CAN'T HAVE HONEY WITHOUT AN ONION, Video Installation in collaboration with Rima Sater

Forest City Gallery, London, ON, Jan 6 - Feb 7, 2024

Documentation by Rachel Long

Set against the lush backdrop of Ilhabela, Brazil, this tropical, retro-futurist short film blends Super 8mm, digital, and VHS footage to conjure a sci-fi world of surreal beauty and estrangement. Unidentified, alien bodies in different textile pieces fluctuate between visibility and blending in, inhabiting landscapes that are both familiar and dreamlike. An existential voice narrates the nostalgic yet curious sensation of feeling out of place, punctuated by robotic bossa nova interludes and the haunting crash of waves. Through this absurdist narrative, the film evokes a sense of simultaneous displacement and agency—echoing the complex, layered feelings of alienation that span generations among women in Latin and Arab diasporas. This film is a poetic ode to our immigrant mothers and their extraordinary ability to adapt and transform with deep sensitivity and resilience. The film is presented as an immersive installation where the piece is projected into a transparent tank filled with water placed in the middle of a blue room with underwater lighting, giving the sensation of diving into the subconscious. This work was filmed at Casa Na Ilha residency in Ila Bela, Brazil, in 2019.