In the waiting room



Yasmina Benari (FRA)

Photography/video installation, 2011.
21 photo series of 3, 8 and 20 pictures.
Color, filmstrips, photographic paper. (31×15 cm, 75×15cm, 2m10×25 cm)
Video, 10’50’’, Colour, PAL, 2011.

In the waiting room gathers 21 photo series of 3, 8 and 20 pictures. Edited as film stripes, the series are set in one location and focused on specific characters as they physically occupy a fixed space.
These series and their display mode aim at illustrating the general feeling of disempowerment and disillusion following January 25th and the fall of Mubarak’s regime in Egypt. The wait became visible in the streets and public spaces, here portrayed as a form of resistance to the return of blind everyday life.
The installation occupies four walls, three painted in white, one in black. On the right wall the projection facing the photo series. On the left, the 10 series of 8, facing the entrance, the 10 series of 3. Below the projection sit the 20 pictures series. The series are attached to aluminum strings tight firmly against the wall in straight lines. Small electric lamps with long black lace enable the observer to “take a closer look”. The experimental video projected in the room is an edit of images taken in Cairo slums. The objects are a metaphor for the millions of Egyptians living under poverty line, forgotten by the state and their fellow wealthier citizens.
People were invited to sit and experience the waiting room, thus becoming themselves part of the installation.