"KEYS OF RETURN" - part of the WARCHESTRA series Video

WARCHESTRA is a multimedia art series that aims to transform images of weapon wielding militants from the Arab world into musicians and cultural producers. This project was initiated as a painting series combatting the stereotypical image of Arabs in the Western Media as gun-toting and violent, functioning as a form of censorship and also as an act of resisting stereotypes. The project has evolved into an act of empowerment through culture, highlighting the cultural heritage of the Arab peoples amidst an ongoing backdrop of war and destruction.

"Keys of Return" is a painting about the recent war in Gaza, Palestine in December 2008. As part of the WARCHESTRA series, the painting depicts grand pianos tumbling from the sky as bombs, and breaking up onto a city built of piano keys. Missiles take the form of clarinets, and white phosphorus clouds hang over the city. A man holds a flute in one hand and an olive branch in the other, as he is rooted firmly on the land. For the sound-art element of this piece I wanted to collaborate with local Montreal activist/writer and pianist Stefan Christoff.