Sedira, Zineb (FR/UK)
Carlsberg Tap E
Zineb Sedira
Born 1963 in Paris, France
Lives in London
The film Middle Sea (2008) begins with a blurred, dreamlike sequence in which a man, his back turned to the camera, looks out across the water from the aft end of a ferry. In front of him, we see a stripe of the ship's turbulent wake.
Zineb Sedira's work can be seen as a video poem about travelling. It is a story of the journey in a universal and abstract sense. At the same time, it is a particular journey between to specific places. Middle Sea is part of a trilogy. The first video work, Saphir (2006) is set in the city of Algiers in Northern Africa where it follows two people who are about to travel by ferry to Marseilles in Southern France. In Middle Sea we follow one of them, the man by the rail, on his journey.
We see him walk through the empty ferry. Night falls, morning comes. He drinks
coffee, the water breaks against the side of the ship, shadows glide across the deck. It is hard to tell, what moves and what stands still. The ship, the sea and the light are in constant movement. The man moves, just as he is moved emotionally. In a flashback, he thinks back to the Algiers harbour front. Perhaps leaving your country is something you do with your back turned to the future and your eyes fixed on what you leave behind.
Middle Sea is reminiscent of a series of abstract paintings in which various colours and textures collide. The film is a story of the psychology of travelling and the enormous barrier there can be between two cities, physically alike and sharing the same sea, but with an uneven distribution of power between them - one of them formerly a colony, the other a colonial ruler.
Sedira was born in France as the child of Algerian immigrants. She, in turn, has
immigrated to Great Britain, whereas her parents have returned to Algiers where she often visits them. Thus, it is also her personal affiliations that are described in the work. Middle Sea concerns the affiliation with a culture, an emotion and a memory, much more than it concerns the country that happens to be listed in Zineb Sedira's passport. -NH
Lives in London
The film Middle Sea (2008) begins with a blurred, dreamlike sequence in which a man, his back turned to the camera, looks out across the water from the aft end of a ferry. In front of him, we see a stripe of the ship's turbulent wake.
Zineb Sedira's work can be seen as a video poem about travelling. It is a story of the journey in a universal and abstract sense. At the same time, it is a particular journey between to specific places. Middle Sea is part of a trilogy. The first video work, Saphir (2006) is set in the city of Algiers in Northern Africa where it follows two people who are about to travel by ferry to Marseilles in Southern France. In Middle Sea we follow one of them, the man by the rail, on his journey.
We see him walk through the empty ferry. Night falls, morning comes. He drinks
coffee, the water breaks against the side of the ship, shadows glide across the deck. It is hard to tell, what moves and what stands still. The ship, the sea and the light are in constant movement. The man moves, just as he is moved emotionally. In a flashback, he thinks back to the Algiers harbour front. Perhaps leaving your country is something you do with your back turned to the future and your eyes fixed on what you leave behind.
Middle Sea is reminiscent of a series of abstract paintings in which various colours and textures collide. The film is a story of the psychology of travelling and the enormous barrier there can be between two cities, physically alike and sharing the same sea, but with an uneven distribution of power between them - one of them formerly a colony, the other a colonial ruler.
Sedira was born in France as the child of Algerian immigrants. She, in turn, has
immigrated to Great Britain, whereas her parents have returned to Algiers where she often visits them. Thus, it is also her personal affiliations that are described in the work. Middle Sea concerns the affiliation with a culture, an emotion and a memory, much more than it concerns the country that happens to be listed in Zineb Sedira's passport. -NH