A self-described ’Private Ear,’ Turner Prize winner Lawrence Abu Hamdan gathers, investigates, and analyzes audio and video recordings of Israeli fighter jets illegally infringing on the otherwise peaceful skies above Lebanon. Since Israel’s invasion in 2006, the repeated aerial hum of choppers and planes has escalated steadily toward terrorizing noise pollution. These incursions insinuate an intentionally weaponized proximate border, but to what end? Abu Hamdan’s meticulous video-essay pieces together evidence of the normalization of this eroding sensorial boundary, exposing what appear to be tactics verging on auditory torture. Combining monologue with archival record, video recordings, eye witness testimonies and shrewd observation, The Diary of a Sky documents contemporary life in Lebanon, in which the people on the ground must navigate the fickleness of two domineering and opposing forces: Hezbollah and Israel.
Community Partner
Mazen El-Sayed
Lebanon
2024
In Arabic with English subtitles
Self harm
This short is featured in:
MODES 1
The veracity of history is made visible, audible, and tangible. Embodying the principle of “Art as modes of truth production,” strap in for a sensory examination of the varying forms of aggression enacted by those with power as a means of dominance.
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Producer
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Cinematography
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Amir Afshar, Ghalya Albani, LarissaAoun, Jad Atoui, Zeinab Awada
Editor
Mohamad A. Gawad
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an independent investigator or Private Ear. His investigations focus on sound and linguistics and have been used as evidence at the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and as advocacy for organizations such as Amnesty International and Defense for Children International together with fellow researchers from Forensic Architecture. Abu Hamdan received his PhD in 2017 from Goldsmiths College University of London and in 2021 completed a professorship at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz where he developed his research airpressure.info. Past fellowships have been held at the University of Chicago and the New School, New York.
Photo by Diana Pfanmatter
MODES
See more shorts in this series
MODES 1
The veracity of history is made visible, audible, and tangible. Embodying the principle of “Art as modes of truth production,” strap in for a sensory examination of the varying forms of aggression enacted by those with power as a means of dominance.
MODES 2
Freedom and control, or chaos and systematization. With indelible nuance and care, these works defy categorization, break binaries, and tempt us to adopt a gaze of love, or resistance; defiantly, also an act of love.