HIDDEN ANGELS / FALDIR ENGLAR / الملائكة الخفية
Site-specific installation, 2019, photomontage digital printings, black sand from Grótta, concrete bricks from Hvervisgata, video 5mn loop
I was in Cairo during the years of the Arab Spring, which degenerated into the mass destruction of Arab countries. I was watching on the TV screen the destruction of cities. Cities turning into ruins: in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and before that time in Iraq.
At the same time, I was watching people crawling out of villages and looking for accommodation in the Capital, Cairo. Failing to find a shelter or receive government aid, people will sit on a piece of agricultural land and start to make red bricks from the clay of that land, and build small houses where they will live. While I saw the joy in the thrill of creating a brick-tile industry and building houses, I saw the brutal demolition: entire cities reduced to ruins, the annihilation of all beings, transformed into Ghost Cities.
I was intrigued by the idea of making these houses that, on one hand, are very similar to ruins and, on the other hand, look like the houses of those who built them to live in.
