A Question of Distance 2003-6

A Commission from Multi Exposure  to explore theme of art and conflict in the region historically known as Palestine, now Israel/Palestine.This multimedia work asks : Is there a place for the artist as stranger in situations of conflict? What are the possibilities for exploring landscape as a site for exploration of concepts of belonging and being 'at home'? A series of walks and talks with my hosts and guides both Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Israelis were marked by an image recording the site of conversation. A text was composed which moves between the thoughts of the artist and the words of her correspondents. The work was returned to the context of origin (Israel) as a performative reading and projection event. The artist 'speaks back' to her audience from within the space of the projected images using only the first and second person;  the identity of the 'you' to whom she is speaking is open to interpretation. The physical presence of the performer becomes a site for projection and identification.  The work was also toured to other contexts, the UK, Palestine (Bethlehem) and Greece. In Greece, the speaking voice of the artist was replaced by a Greek speaking performer. In London, it was also shown as a projection installation with recorded sound only. It is also published as a book with accompanying DVD.

'…A Question of Distance puts in play a multiplicity of voices and situations that re-echo and reflect each other across divided positions. It presumes no resolution of any conflict, nor does it necessarily produce an 'understanding' but something more tentative: what does it mean to mistake oneself for another, or another's words for one's own? Or to recognize oneself in an unexpected way? Between text and image the work opens up the complexity of the subjective feelings of living in conflict, and thereby makes a space for an intuition of reversibility, for altered perceptions of self and other, and for a renewed sense of possibility-however tenuous and fragile these things might be.'

Susan Butler 'A Telling Retold' Portfolio no 45