Whispers from chaotic waves (2024)
Installation
Two ceramic sculptures and sound.
This project explores a conversation between two canals that once ran near my home, one in Amsterdam's Bijlmer neighborhood and the other in the Egyptian countryside near my father’s house. Though physically distant, these canals share a connection in my memory, evoking themes of environmental change and water politics.
The canals symbolize more than their physical similarities; they embody contrasting futures of water in two different regions. One faces the threat of flooding due to climate change, while the other grows shallower and risks drying up because of the political tensions and environmental shifts in Egypt. These contrasts reflect broader human relationships with water—how abundance and shortage alike reshape landscapes, cultures, and communities.
The project also questions how global environmental crises are interconnected, where water excess in one part of the world can coexist with severe drought in another. Both extremes, flooding, and drought, demand human responses such as migration, adaptation, and innovation. This parallel raises questions about how our memories of place are influenced by shifting landscapes and how these changes shape identity, collective memory, and survival.
The dialogue between the two canals is personified by mythical water creatures from folklore: the Water Wolf from Dutch folklore, symbolizing floods, and the Black Balti Whale from Egyptian folklore, representing drought and water imbalance. Together, they illustrate water's profound impact on human life, translating the environmental extremes of climate change into a visual narrative about our relationship with land and nature.
This project was produced by CBK Zuidoost in Amsterdam as part of a group exhibition showcasing works by both national and international artists who participated in BijlmAIR, CBK Zuidoost’s artist-in-residence program.
Voice-over by: Omar Omar
Special thanks to: Reem Maghraby, Renske Dejong, Annet Zondervan, Yazan Maksoud, Margarit, Urias, Claudio Ritfeld, Safaa Attia, Noha Gamal Elheddiny, Mahmoud Roshdy.
