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"an installation dedicated to every person who was forced to leave his/her home"
the idea of my light is your light... has been presented in the form of a light installation with six human-scale statues created in outlines from custom-made neon lights. the six figures represent a family made of a father, a mother, a grandfather, an aunt and two children. a family that has been walking for years, and it seems as though the youngest of all has found something interesting. it is an installation that reflects both harshness and aspects of hope. these six figures will find themselves crossing paths with passers-by at the festival. CONTEXT alaa minawi resides in lebanon; a country that has vast borders with syria. with the plight of many syrian families and individuals finding refuge in lebanon (some estimates speak of over 1.5 million persons), alaa has been working as a freelance interpreter with syrian, iraqi, and sudanese refugees. he work comes with an approach to further understand what it is that these refugees have succumbed to on the ground, but also what it is that they aspire to. he has interpreted for more than 1000 families, and has during this process noticed that refugees, who are almost always susceptible to their reality, can easily be ‘detected’. They have an aura; some kind of glow that radiates from within them. alaa began to construct his installation around the concept of refugees embodying outlines of a fragile light. every refugee comes with an extraordinary story to tell, and one that almost seeps out of their bodies... they are eager to try and tell the world what has occurred, and what is occurring. alaa minawi is himself a palestinian refugee, his father was a refugee, and so was his grandfather. it has toured in the following locations: - 2014 amsterdam light festival - netherlands - 2015 beirut spring festival - lebanon - 2015 istanbul light festival - turkey - 2016 london canary wharf winter lights - uk - 2016 amsterdam light festival - netherlands - 2016 brussels - belgium - 2016 staro riga - latvia - 2016 berlin festival of lights - germany - 2017 toronto light festival - canada - 2017 baltimore light festival - usa - 2018 glow washington - usa - 2018 lux helssinki - findland - 2018 lumiere london - uk - 2018 klanglicht graz - austria - 2018 norrkoping light festival - sweden - 2020 göteborg - sweden - 2020 knokke-heist light festival - belgium - 2022 Amsterdam Light Festival - Netherlands - 2022 Expo Dubai - UAE - 2022 Tijd Festival - Netherlands - 2022 Berlin Festival of Lights - Germany - 2023 Battersea London Station - UK - 2023 Tokyo Toramonon Light Art - Japan |