Lida Abdul
* 1973 Kabul, Afghanistan.
Brick Sellers of Kabul. 2006
16mm film transferred to DVD
About the work
Lida Abdul’s “Brick Sellers of Kabul” approaches the complex process of reconstruction in Afghanistan, producing a subtle reflection that could be perceived and considered as a comment on social negotiation and transformation.
In this work, the dynamic tension between the protagonists of such reconstruction comes to the fore through a penetrating synthesis. On the one hand, we confront, conceptually speaking, the necessary and basic elements embedded in every process of reconstruction: primary materials (bricks) and the future generation (children). However, on the other hand, the third protagonist is a man whose presence disrupts and marks this process of renovation and transformation with his constitutive role of authority.
The continuous enduring sequence of children playing and selling the stones gives us a sense of inescapability marking out the presence of an unwritten law that belongs to every moment of reconstruction, namely dynamisms of power that emerge from the everyday struggle for survival. The brick sellers that we encounter in this video are the children of Kabul, but their movements never speak about total resignation. Nonetheless, this fragment of everyday struggle testifies to a precarious indication of redemption.
© From the catalogue of Sharjah Biennial 8, 2007.
Teil 2 der Fototour durch die Sharjah Biennale 8, 4. April - 4. Juni 2007. Direktorin der Biennale: Hoor Al Qasimi. Künstlerischer Leiter: Jack Persekian. Kuratoren: Mohammed Kazem, Eva Scharrer, Jonathan Watkins. 79 Beteiligte.