FELTDARK: ELYAS ALAVI (SA) - NAAN

Screening from 8:00pm - Wednesday, 6th December

Running - 7th - 23rd December 2017

FELTdark is viewable: Wed - Thur: 7pm - 12am, Fri: 7pm - 12am, Sat: 7pm - 12am

This work, Naan/Bread (2017), features footage taken between July 2016 and July 2017, the majority of which has been shot in Afghanistan where I was born, as well as Iran where I lived in exile for 15 years, and also Australia, my new home, and during visits to Kurdistan and the Arab Emirates. As I move from city to city, I documented myself and local people holding a piece of a local bread in front of the face. This gesture refers to the importance of Naan/bread as food, a staple of many cultures that takes many different forms around the world, sustenance for us all. In my mind, the main reason of all battles and wars is always over a piece of naan/bread. While for some people, their type of bread may be dry and cheap, saving them from hunger but for others, their type of bread, their sustenance, has been dipped in other’s blood. It also refers to the term “breadwinner” and in a country in war like Afghanistan where I come from, when the breadwinner of the family dies or is killed, the structure of the whole family will collapse and for many it never recovers. There are many breads. But we all need sustenance. In this, we are all the same.