Anthems.
2017- ongoing.
Research, sound, performance, video.

Countries people have asked me if I come from:

Israel
Iran
Pakistan
Turkey
Russia
France
Iraq
Italy
Spain
Malaysia
Japan
India

Anthems is an ongoing project where I learn the national anthems of countries that people have asked me if I come from. The work has been exhibited as a 12 channel sound installation within a wooden listening structure, where stands, reminiscent of protest placards, surround the listener.

The work looks at the question of the assumed relationship between ethnicity and nationality, our outer appearances and our inner connections and how we see ourselves and how others see us, reflected in the soundscape of overlapping, surrounding voices. It looks at national identity building through music, and the marks of colonialism and Euro-centricism in its construction.

The anthems have been learnt through listening only, and through reading English translations. The exact words become lost and instead we only hear the emotion of the words and the mood of the melodies. During the exhibition period at Lydgalleriet, I held a series of workshops looking at the conflict between assumed and inner belonging.

The work continues and is revisited when new assumed nationalities are added to the list.

Part four: Discussion workshop, September- October 2019.


Part three: Text works, also displayed with the  sound-installation at Lydgalleriet.

Part five: Anthems, solo exhibition. Lydgalleriet, Bergen. November 2019. 12 channel sound installation with text work.

Part two: Anthems; a choir for one. FELT Galleri, Bergen. 9th September 2017. Live performance using looping pedal.