Burning Bodies

This work was created in response to poetic texts written by Habibah Sheikh, a nomadic performance artist originally from Lebanon, and the curator of the Mitli Mitlak exhibition. In the text, a character named Ruba experiences the destruction of war first hand and becomes a refugee in the process. The use of imagery of violence evokes the emotional and physical vulnerability of certain Mediterranean themes...such as being without asylum.

Act 1, Scene 1, Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me):

(Ruba listens to the radio, while preparing food)
Radio Broadcaster: The remains of people who were missing...they disappeared...from their homes. From markets. 40,000 gone... without a trace. Their husbands and their children...their parents, and siblings, wake each morning; numbly terrified by This madness.
Voice of a woman: We were helpless. forgotten in total darkness. Madness. Families escaped. Some babies born in refugee tents. Or burning cities. The innocent were held captive.
Carlos: (furious) Marissa insists that we leave. The Neighbors are all talking about—
Ruba: It's a mistake. It's a rumor. They spread gossip. There’s nowhere to go!!! I'm so poor and poverty has pushed me into circumstances of chance. Where is the father who left us when I was 5 years old? (a thunderstorm is heard strongly).
Carlos: (He pursues her violently). You belong to me. You will do as I say! You are my slave.
Ruba: Does my soul belong to you?

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Wael Darweish’s work is concerned with the changing perceptions related to the continuous social metamorphosis that Egypt has experienced as an African, Arab, and Middle Eastern country. He explores issues of colonization and liberation and the contemporary constraints of time, diaspora, gender, and identity.