Universes in Universe

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Frozen Memory

Frozen Memory, 2002
Video, 4'
In cooperation with Abdel Ghany Kenawy
Courtesy of the Amal Kenawy Estate and Darat al Funun – The Khalid Shoman Foundation
About the work

Amal Kenawy: Frozen Memory
3 November 2018 - 19 January 2019
Bait Al Serkal
Curator: Hoor Al Qasimi


About the work

Frozen Memory is a video work that explores birth, marriage and death as turning points or gates leading into unexplored lands. Yet, these places still remain within the confines of society. Using her memory as her guide, Kenawy looks at the hidden sentiments attached to the three turning points, the sentiments that lie deep within a person’s inner self or being.

Receptacle of all things true and twisted, past and evolving, memory keeps its own parallel track of life. It tackles what the days and years bring, resonates with everything that we sense and experience. Its strong presence overpowers and pre-empts, leading Kenawy to ask herself, ‘Shall I die after my lifetime or during it?’

In Frozen Memory, Kenawy grapples with the isolation or alienation experienced by a person, even while living among others in society; she looks at how each of us is a mechanical part in society’s churning wheel, one that turns and turns, never stopping.

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