Walking with Gaza compiles a set of unintended pocket recordings, recorded December 2023 while walking on a beach. The phone had been unlocked due to the constant checking of social media for news from and about the genocide in Gaza.
Director statement
To me, these recordings symbolize how, for Palestinians and our supporters the world over, the genocide pervades every moment and aspect of our lives. It is always with us, and we with those struggling to survive and fight against it. At times they give the impression of struggling to keep one’s head above water. The inclusion of the sound of an Israeli drone, recorded in Gaza and shared on social media by Muhammad Smiry, who like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, have been sharing real-time information about the horrors of the genocide and their efforts to survive it, is both a reminder of and also seeks to challenge Israel’s pervasive surveillance apparatus and war machine. Without disregarding the violence it represents, I wish to reinterpret the sound of the drone as a metaphor of our unending connection to our people in Gaza, to Palestinians everywhere, and to our steadfastness to our goal of collective liberation.
Bio
Samer Abdelnour is a Toronto-born, Edinburgh-based Palestinian academic and artist. His artistic practice currently revolves around abstract figurative sculpture, but also includes two short films, prose and long-running engagement with community-based artists and activists. In 2024 he was selected for the Jhalak Art Residency, to create an artwork as the award for the annual Jhalak Prize. He sits on the board of Embassy Cultural House, the British Palestine Media Centre, and was a founding member of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
