Palestinian artist Basma Alsharif’s experimental first feature film takes up the end of civilization, with Gaza as the theme’s launching point.
The film, titled Ouroboros, was born out of her experience in Gaza during Israel’s November 2012 military offensive.
“I was in total shock, because war seems so sensational when it’s reported … and when you’re actually in it, it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, this is random and senseless,’” Alsharif, who was born in Kuwait and grew up in France and the United States, told The Electronic Intifada.
“You realize life just has no value to the people bombing. I was thinking, especially when they would bomb empty sites over and over just to scare the people, yeah, this is really the end of humanity, and of civilization.”
Yet, for Alsharif, hopelessness is not a foregone conclusion, and she seeks instead to put forth new concepts of futurity and renewal in the wake of destruction.
“Ouroboros, the tail-biting snake that appears in Greek mythology, is a process of renewal,” Alsharif stated at an April screening of the film during the Whitney Biennial in New York City.
The allegorical Ouroboros is sensorially immersive, featuring lush imagery, dynamic sound design and dreamlike sequences.
“I was in total shock, because war seems so sensational when it’s reported … and when you’re actually in it, it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, this is random and senseless,’” Alsharif, who was born in Kuwait and grew up in France and the United States, told The Electronic Intifada.
“You realize life just has no value to the people bombing. I was thinking, especially when they would bomb empty sites over and over just to scare the people, yeah, this is really the end of humanity, and of civilization.”
Yet, for Alsharif, hopelessness is not a foregone conclusion, and she seeks instead to put forth new concepts of futurity and renewal in the wake of destruction.
“Ouroboros, the tail-biting snake that appears in Greek mythology, is a process of renewal,” Alsharif stated at an April screening of the film during the Whitney Biennial in New York City.
The allegorical Ouroboros is sensorially immersive, featuring lush imagery, dynamic sound design and dreamlike sequences.