IN FOCUS | 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 | Serendipity Arts Festival 2025
In 2024, 100 million people were displaced. A number so large often reduces humans to mere data points, stripped of their past, identity, and diversity of experiences. Although documented, they remain in the binary of the digital code, fleeting and intangible.
When Iraq-born visual artist, filmmaker and photographer
@ali.arkady tried to print his images of displacement on a stone, it shattered under the pressure. This noise instantly flooded him with the sounds of explosions he had heard as a photojournalist documenting conflict-ridden regions in Iraq. He realised that, perhaps, this was necessary to tell the story of shattered people.
His innovative technique—monolithography—invites reflection on this current unfolding as a relic of the present. By printing on lithographic stones, he imbues them with the weight of memory and trauma, honouring those lost to ceaseless battle.
On view as part of the exhibition 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 at the 10th edition of
@serendipityartsfestival , his work alters the materiality of photographs to symbolise the deep afflictions of war on the human spirit and its traumatic etching on memory, culture, and regions.
𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 will be open to the public until 21 December at the Old PWD Complex, Panjim, Goa, from 11 AM to 7 PM.
Curated by Rahaab Allana / Curator, Alkazi Foundation
Scenography:
@sukanyabaskar
To know more about the exhibition, head to the link in bio!
Image credit: Ali Arkady
