Capsule
Essay Canada 2010 English 0:05:28
Time is relentless. I’m worried, watching a puddle of water invisibly evaporate before my eyes, asking myself what will remain as I deal with the fallout of an ancestry that is slowly, mercilessly vanishing from this earth. I miss their bodily presence but that’s not the only sorrow I feel. I grieve the loss of guided wisdoms, collective histories and the stories I was never told. Filmed over a period of two months in late 2008 as I helplessly watched my mother lose her battle with cancer, Capsule is a personal journey as well as an urgent inventory of the precious, final moments I wished to collect and suspend in time. Past blends with present as bedtime stories, children’s toys and old photographs attempt to counter the distressing reality of syringes, bandages, get-well cards, and the last birthday we elebrated together as a family.
Filmé sur une période de deux mois à la fin de l’année 2008 alors que je regardais, impuissante, ma mère perdre sa bataille contre le cancer, Capsule est un cheminement personnel ainsi que l’inventaire urgent des précieux et derniers moments que je voulais recueillir et mettre en suspens dans le temps.
Shereen Soliman is a new media artist working in single channel video and video installation. Her work investigates the disconnections of family and cultural history within contemporary society. She collects images of people, places and objects that resonate themes of memory, the passage of time, and absence vs. presence. While reasserting identity within the context of heritage, her work highlights the fragility of human nature, and our need for physical connection with a history we have lost. A 2009 graduate of the Intermedia CyberArts BFA program at Concordia University (Montréal, Canada), Shereen Soliman was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland (1970) and currently works and lives in Montreal, Canada.
Categories: 2010-2014, Canada, English, essai/essay, Soliman Tags: autobiographie / autobiography, famille / family, histoire / history, identité / identity, mort / death, vieillissement / ageing
