Purple Sea
“I see everything,” she says, as if it was a curse. Brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies. The sea is calm, framed by a piece of railing. Buzzing voices. A peaceful moment if it weren’t for the fact that the sea is standing upright, vertical, like a waterfall. A rush of images, twirling, upside down, jolting.
People in the boat, in the water, screams, life jackets, emergency whistles. Fluorescent orange, geometrical shapes cast by the sun. There’s no horizon anymore, no sky, no up or down, only deepness and nothing to hold on to. Even Eme’s flow comes to a halt, contracting into the brutal present.
She is filming and speaking. To him, to herself, to us, perhaps. Floating legs in sweatpants, jeans, thronged together. A blouse with butterflies, it looks like their wings are flapping in the water. The snake-like belt of a coat, a crumpled-up plastic cup, a pack of cigarettes.
Fuck you all! She speaks, she rages, and she films to beat being tired, being cold, the fact that help isn’t coming. To beat dying, just for something to remain.
Geopolitical context
"Purple Sea" relates the tragic events that occurred in 2015 when a boat carrying people fleeing the war in Syria sank near the island of Lesbos. It was one of many disasters of this kind: in 2014 and 2015, thousands of refugees from African and Asian countries died in the Mediterranean Sea. Two thirds of the migrants who dared to take the extremely dangerous journey across the sea to Greece and Italy in 2015 came from Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Somalia. Their decision to leave cannot be considered economic migration: people were fleeing countries where their lives were in danger. EU measures were mostly aimed at denying assistance to asylum seekers. Border guards were repeatedly violent towards refugees and also violated the non-refoulement principle. This means the refugees were returned to countries where they were threatened with torture and murder, for example, Libya. The migration situation in the Mediterranean region remains horrifying. 1,369 asylum seekers died at sea in 2021.

Artworks: Backyard (2018, assistant director, 26'), Stranger's Diaries (2019, together with Khaled Abdulwahed, 8-channel video installation, 35'), Purple Sea (2020, 67')

Artworks: Bullet (2011, 2'), Tuj (2012, 2'), Slot in Memory (2013, 2'30''), Backyard (2018, 26'), Stranger's Diaries (2019, together with Amel Alzakout, 8-channel video installation, 35'), Purple Sea (2020, co-director, 67')