One Hundred and Twenty Minutes
(2019-2023)
In One Hundred and Twenty Minutes (the amount of time we dedicate to dream every night), I have worked with 16 individuals who are exiled from their native countries to live in the UK. Through photography, poetry, drawing and video, I examine the emotional and psychological landscapes of dreams in exile, the new lives we create with these dreams, and the ways in which they keep returning us to our past.
DREAMS
In my dream I swim with fish in the ocean. There is no land around me. In my dream, my sister has twins. My sister and her husband couldn’t conceive a child, but they cared for me as their own. In my dreaming bed, I am pregnant. I lie in the dark and think about how to tell my family. I am a middle-aged man in a hospital delivery suite. My belly button opens and I give birth to a fist. I am dining with my aunt and mother when I feel stones and sand in my mouth. I look up and see them turning into statues. My grandmother is lying in bed. As I go closer, I see that she is losing body parts. I am scared and try to put the parts back into place. It works and she talks to me. I see a staircase in the middle of an abandoned house. The stairs form a never-ending, bright path. There are mirrors around me. I look into them but I cannot see myself. After my watch broke I saw my father in a dream. “You need a watch,” he said. Shortly afterwards, my friend gave me her watch. “A stranger appeared to ask that I give this to you,” she said. A few years ago my sister was very unwell. I dreamt that I saw her sitting in an empty room, wearing a red dress, steam coming out of her body. Every week in my dream, my father comes to pick me up in a nice red car. I love looking out of the window at the green landscape as we drive. In my dream my brothers are playing in a forest. All of a sudden I see two men following us. I am scared and scream to run. Between the trees we find a wooden door, push through and we are home.I am back in my classroom, teaching my students. While talking, I see that I am naked, in a male body. I am in the market. There are snakes everywhere. They offer snakes to me. I am flying over the green meadows and clear lakes. Landing hurts and the pain wakes me up. The people in the house have left my father lying naked outside. I go to him with a blanket, trying to convince everyone that he is alive. And that while he cannot talk, he can still hear us.
(2019-2023)
In One Hundred and Twenty Minutes (the amount of time we dedicate to dream every night), I have worked with 16 individuals who are exiled from their native countries to live in the UK. Through photography, poetry, drawing and video, I examine the emotional and psychological landscapes of dreams in exile, the new lives we create with these dreams, and the ways in which they keep returning us to our past.
DREAMS
In my dream I swim with fish in the ocean. There is no land around me. In my dream, my sister has twins. My sister and her husband couldn’t conceive a child, but they cared for me as their own. In my dreaming bed, I am pregnant. I lie in the dark and think about how to tell my family. I am a middle-aged man in a hospital delivery suite. My belly button opens and I give birth to a fist. I am dining with my aunt and mother when I feel stones and sand in my mouth. I look up and see them turning into statues. My grandmother is lying in bed. As I go closer, I see that she is losing body parts. I am scared and try to put the parts back into place. It works and she talks to me. I see a staircase in the middle of an abandoned house. The stairs form a never-ending, bright path. There are mirrors around me. I look into them but I cannot see myself. After my watch broke I saw my father in a dream. “You need a watch,” he said. Shortly afterwards, my friend gave me her watch. “A stranger appeared to ask that I give this to you,” she said. A few years ago my sister was very unwell. I dreamt that I saw her sitting in an empty room, wearing a red dress, steam coming out of her body. Every week in my dream, my father comes to pick me up in a nice red car. I love looking out of the window at the green landscape as we drive. In my dream my brothers are playing in a forest. All of a sudden I see two men following us. I am scared and scream to run. Between the trees we find a wooden door, push through and we are home.I am back in my classroom, teaching my students. While talking, I see that I am naked, in a male body. I am in the market. There are snakes everywhere. They offer snakes to me. I am flying over the green meadows and clear lakes. Landing hurts and the pain wakes me up. The people in the house have left my father lying naked outside. I go to him with a blanket, trying to convince everyone that he is alive. And that while he cannot talk, he can still hear us.
Exhibitions
One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, solo show at Bristol Photo Festival 2024 ‘The World a Wave’ curated by Alejandro Acín and produced in collaboration with Multistory. October-November 2024. Bristol, UK.
Installation Video