Alaa Abu Asad

Relying on the sound edits and its effects, this stop motion video tries to delve deeper into understanding the photograph, exceeding its specific time and place, and exposing what lies beyond what is seen in each image. At the Verge of Worldlessness unfolds the multiple layers of the photographs (time, place, photographer, photographed object/subject) to unravel a new world, yet another one, and so forth. What forms of life are there behind these military cement road-barriers coloured in white and green and numbered from 5 to 10? And what do these numbers stand for? Has there ever been a water brook running in the valley where a brutal street walled-bridge construction is erected now, enabling colonial settlers to reach area A from area B, or C? Can a close-up photograph of the cement-segmental-constructed separation wall in Palestine really block the spectator’s sight? And where is this Palestinian lady heading to? Where from? And what is in those black plastic bags she is carrying? Are they plastic? The film looks into and beyond each photograph in search of any gap, opening or crack visible or invisible, imagining what might be ‘hiding’ in them. What can these photographs teach us about their time and place, its past, its present-day lives, and any possible foreseeing for its future?