Make Kabsah with Me, 2020, single channel video, 13 min
Commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art for 4A Digital
Make Kabsah with Me weaves together personal and broader narratives – situating our familial history of migration within the larger history of migration through West Asia, the complexities of the Arab cultural landscape and the immigrant experience in Australia.
A traditional dish of the Arabian Peninsula, and a favourite food from my childhood, the evolution of kabsah acts as an indirect record of the impacts of colonisation, economic inequality and shifting borders.
These fragments of conversation between me and my father, explore the crucial role of daily and domestic rituals in mapping complex histories. This work is both a documentation and demonstration of how oral histories and ritual are used to pass on intergenerational memory, culture and knowledge.