Bodies of Trauma
Arts
Integrated Critical Practice Concentration - Film and Digital Media
Bodies of Trauma consists of both a written thesis and an experimental documentary as its production/visual counterpart. The project, as a whole, confronts trauma through an examination of Lebanese art that deals with the aftermath of the civil war and a video, inspired by the thesis, that focuses on physical scars and the emotional and psychological traumas they have on those who bear them.
The thesis, entitled Disremembered: Beirut's Collective Body of Trauma, uses the motif of death and it's manifestation across a collective of Lebanese film, video, and installation work to frame and engage with the unresolved traumas of the country's civil war. Drawing its methodological and thematic approach from Michel Guiomar's long essay, Principes d'une Esthétique de la Mort, the thesis is organized into three sections - Le Funèbre, Le Crèpusculaire, and Le Double Affectif -that each address specific manifestations of death across the work of the artists. The analysis is developed through the theoretical discourse of Mikhail Bakhtin, Walter Benjamin, Jalal Toufiq, and Roland Barthes to elucidate the themes that underlie each film and their corresponding sections. In its conclusion, the thesis revisits the purpose of each work to confront the subdued trauma of the war and to begin to heal.
Cicatrices, the video/production portion of the project, presents images of scars that are obscured by audio interviews and a droning soundtrack. Like the thesis, the film is separated into three parts wherein intermittent sequences of darkened faces overlaid with scars and audio from the interviews present the thematic context of the segment. Without information to identify the origins of the scars, or the gender, age, race of the bearers, the viewer must engage with the image and reflect on the trauma suffered by others. The scars themselves range from minor accidents (from childhood or adolescence).
This project is dedicated to the memory of Josh Alper.
