Upon Your Arrival, Before My Return builds on my previous body of work and advances the idea of material-as-memory, creating a space where the archive is not just a record of a moment in time but also a site for resistance and the examination of identity. This project takes the form of a multimedia, site-specific installation that introduces a levitating moving image and a soundscape. The presentation, emphasizing spatiality over a passive, single-channel format, is key to conveying the experience of existing between place, time, and cultures. 

Upon Your Arrival examines the erosion of cultural memory within diasporic populations. The inclusion of both analog and digital processes is unorthodox and deliberate, weaving together different eras and places into singular moments. This sequence draws on varied media, including moments from our familial archive, local advertisements and game shows, a looping video of the sea, Western broadcast coverage of the Lebanese civil war, and footage from a return trip to the region. It also includes the static and tracking imperfections typical of VHS recordings, especially when beginning a new recording or taping over previously recorded materials.

Upon Your Arrival, Before My Return (Installation View), Schick Gallery (NY)