Memory of Birds

Memory of Birds is an interactive sound installation that takes place in trees, in collaboration with a trauma therapist and migrating birds.

The work explores political violence that literally and figuratively gets buried in contested lands. It centers the artist’s complicated relationship with the land—one that holds trauma, mass graves, and toxicity, a repository of political struggle, a record of power dynamics, and a site of various species migrating for survival.

A guided somatic experience, Memory of Birds is a work that eats itself, designed to be forgotten.

Credits:

Text & Narration: Tania El Khoury
UK Producer: Cat Harrison
UK Production Manager: Steve Wald
Lead Audience Guide: Nicky Childs
Space Design: Thena Tak & Ross Adams
Guided Somatic Experience: Coral Franchi LCSW, SEP Music & Sound Design: Fadi Tabbal
Singing Voice: Laila Samy
Illustration & Graphic Design: Haitham Haddad Mask Design: Oscar Gardea
Dramaturgy: James Stenhouse

Originally commissioned by Common Ground, 2023 Fisher Center LAB Biennial. Memory of Birds in the UK has been generously supported by Shubbak and Norfolk and Norwich Festival, and a project grant from Arts Council England.