Sang i et fremmed land
The sound piece, played on five speakers focuses on fragments
from four lullabies in Arabic and Norwegian: Nami Nami (Sleep
Sleep), Yalla Tnam (Go to sleep) So ro lilleman (Rest now little
one) and Kvelden lister se på tå (Evening creeps in) combined
with soundscapes relating to the videos. The voices are heard
from separate speakers, forming a choir. Different generations of
both Palestinian and Norwegian women are represented singing
lullabies in which languages and melodies become blended into
new forms.
On the oval screen and the surface of the ‘door’, two videos feature the gesturing hands of the singers, singing and talking, and images from the Norwegian landscape as well as representations of exile nostalgia, time, generations, and movement from place to place
Two videos, multichannel sound, six minute loop
Oval wooden construction 420w x 720l x 187h cm
Images from Sang i et fremmed land, exhibited at
Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo 2022
Voices and hands:
Nora Adwan, Idris Adwan-Arvastsson, Dalia Alkury, Fatmeh Mahmoud, Yasmin Mouafak, Kjersti Sundland, Laila Sundland
Audio producer:
Martin Mikkelsen
Technical assistance:
Johan Mattias Arvastsson, Mathias Grønsdal
Photographs:
Astrup Fearnley Museet