Morning, 2009 (excerpt)
Running time: 1:33 minutes / HD / colour
In a light-filled opening, the silhouette of a woman with a child on her back appears as she empties a pail of water and then disappears into light. This video was recorded at the entrance to the mellah, the old Jewish quarters in Amzrou, a kasbah in southern Morocco.
Amzrou, not unlike most kasbahs, has narrow streets with a covered area that accentuates its high walls. Morning reveals a simple, domestic scene where past and present are no longer discernible, the figure filmed in Morning appears to be a mirage.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Patrick Andrew Boivin, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
a young man announces
“this is the entrance to the Mellah”
the Jewish quarter
but they are all gone”
a square patch of sunlight
at the other end of the tunnel,
veils
the dance of a woman with a child on her back
holding a bucket
within a splash
she disappears
This video was shown at the exhibition Amzrou/Morocco at Galerie J. Yahouda, Montréal in 2013.