Those trees that occupied the dreams and ambitions of my dad and which I have been hearing about since my early childhood, dad’s desire to care, secure, and grow these oranges till they fill his life with charm and happiness. He was always looking forward to the day when he retires just because he wants to settle down in his farm and be surrounded forever with his oranges. These oranges will definitely be his world by then.
All the previous feelings and happenings made the ‘orange tree’ an important part of my inner world. I can smell the magnificent smell of orange flowers; I can see its orangey colour everywhere. It became a strong sign of my presence in this world and to my dad’s presence beside me in spite of the big distances that separate us, in spite of all the countries that draw their illusionary political borders between us and all the hours that pass us to prove how long we have been away from each other. But as all human beings, we try to live our new life and get used to the new environment and circumstances. We try to look at these conditions in a positive way and take advantages from them. Exactly as what happened with my little orange tree which was placed in the gallery few weeks before the show starts. It was supposed to be in a farm or a garden. Its natural place is to be outside this closed space with its walls which are about to choke the tree to death. The tree had a long time of struggle but it found a new way to live in the end and was able not only to survive but also to blossom and spread its fantastic smell in the gallery. It gave lots of fruits and proved to everybody that it doesn’t matter where we are. What really matters is how we want to live and what we want to do.
The tree was an object in the work but it was also the main subject that carries many meanings and connotations especially when it is seen in every piece in the work. It was something the viewer can come closer to, touch, smell, and interact with physically. It was also a visual element expressed as an image that constituted with other images a whole unit. The other images in the unit are a mixture of three main places that have a great effect on my life. The place where I used to live in (Syria), the place where I live in now (uk) and the place that I will live in in the near future (Canada). I feel like I spent my life moving from one place to another. Sometimes I had to change my place three times a year. Even if I were in the same country, it was very difficult to do. Very difficult to start from the beginning and to find a place where you may feel good. I believe that this is not only my own statement as the majority of people move and many of them immigrate because they have to or they want to. The ‘place’ where we live in is only a place in its abstract meaning but our memories, experiences and the way we connect to this place are what give the ‘place’ a meaning. People are people no matter where they are, what their religion is or what the beliefs they were brought up on are. We all are human beings holding deep inside the same feelings and emotions. We all cry, cheer, get angry, calm, feel hunger or full. We all are human beings wherever we are. All what we need is to find a means to communicate with each other even if we don’t understand each other. From this point, I got the idea of choosing an Arabic title to the work no matter what meaning of this title can convey about the work (although the meaning is still important somehow). My idea was to find a way to use this title as a means of communication.
Arabic is my mother tongue language. English is the language that people speak in the place where I live now and where the work was exhibited. The title was printed in English letters but with Arabic pronunciation. The original Arabic title was placed below the English letters. The visitors who came to the show were reading ‘English letters’ but apparently they were reading Arabic. There was a link between two different languages which came from two different parts of the world. One from the East and one from the West. There was a special dialogue between two cultures. The visitor was reading some English letters that have no meaning at all to him / her, which led them to think that they must be reading something that could hold a meaning but in another language. The language that was placed along with English, although the viewers don’t recognize ‘Arabic’ as ‘Arabic’ but this still gives an impression that this is a different language from another place in the world.
The water presence is another connotation of the world unity. Water is the only element that connects continents together and unites the places that constitute the globe in which all people live. Land can be divided but it is impossible to divide water or to place precise political borders in water. Water connects us whether we want it or not.
Music can also be a means of connecting and communicating. Examples are varied but the music I chose to be played as a part of the artwork was ‘Fairouz’ music. Fairouz is an Arab singer whose music became one of the few things that connect Arab people together nowadays. It is very difficult for people to generally agree on one person / singer / artist to present them or to sing their pain. But luckily enough Arabs agreed on Fairouz. It sounds strange but is still true that most of the Arab people listen to Fairouz’s music every morning. This music unites Arabs together so that they forget their nationalities and forget about the borders that separate them, about the economical situation they suffer from and about the social and religious aspects that control their life.
I invited everyone to enjoy that music and to feel it and to look further than the language it was sung with. Fairouz’s music was another means in the work which could open up a new space for communication and dialogue, not only between Arabs themselves but between all people. Between East and West again. These two cultures that were affected and are being affected by each other for a long time.
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