From October 14th to December 11th, the SFU Audain Gallery has hosted the work of artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Two of his works are displayed there, both of which explore reincarnation as a medium for justice. On October 20th my class took a field trip to the art gallery to view his work. This is my reflection.

Once Removed

Once Removed is the first work of art you encounter when you walk into the art gallery. It is a set of two screens suspended in the middle of the gallery. You are completely in the dark as you watch the 28-minute video, isolating yourself from any distractions that might be around the space had you been in the light. I really liked the way the dark room narrowed your focus to the screens and made it looks like they were floating in front of you.

The featured an interview between Hamdan and Bassel Abi Chahine, a writer and historian who has been collecting a comprehensive collection of rare objects from the People’s Liberation Army during the Lebanese Civil War. Chahine’s started this collection as an attempt to contextualize inexplicable memories he was having from the war he was not alive during. His memories are from a PLA fighter and thus Chahine claims to be the reincarnation of this soldier.

Although I enjoyed the video presentation greatly, I felt it was more of an artistic documentary rather than solely an art piece. I believe there were many artistic choices made in how the film was shot and presented, but not much was left up to the imagination. I wish we got to see more of the artist’s take on reincarnation.

For the Otherwise Unaccounted

For the Otherwise Unaccounted is the second piece you encounter. At the back of the gallery, there are 3 sheets of paper. Each of them has several accounts of reincarnation stories among other people. This again felt more like documentation rather than an art piece. Each account was told in about 1 paragraph of very small print and it felt like I was reading an essay. The pages were displayed in a room at the back of the gallery. It had big windows that looked out onto the street. To me, it seemed strange to have such a small display in an area where passersby on the street would be able to see it.

Overall I really enjoyed the exhibit for the topic it was presenting. It was a great chance to think about a side of spirituality that isn’t part of my own life. Each story that was presented in the exhibit was very intriguing. I would love to learn more about the subject and how it changes the way different groups of people live their lives.

Check out Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s Website to see the two pieces I talked about and more!