Polyphony from Sophia Keskey on Vimeo.

Statement

Polyphony involves a series of multiple paired performers, filmed from the back, as they recite a list of Israeli and Palestinian town names in Hebrew and Arabic. The performers, one with a background in Arabic and the other with a background in Hebrew, recite the town name in the “opposite” language. Before recording, each pair meets to teach each other basic pronunciation, and perhaps exchange other narratives.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a symbol in the Western world for Middle Eastern turmoil, both as a tension millenniums old, and as a modern day war of attrition. However as an extremely polarized conflict, entire histories and narratives have been ignored (in Israel and Palestine, and in the larger world). Through collecting the stories of the places recited, the names will come to symbolize the varying histories and narratives of the town identities. In the act of physically saying the names out loud, this history is acknowledged, despite the fact that often both societies attempt to delegitimize the other’s stories.

This piece stems from my childhood. I grew up in between my liberal Jewish mother and my conservative anti-religion father. My household was constantly filled with opinions, clashes, and debates. Despite the heated dinner table “discussions,” their marriage and my childhood flourished and I grew up with a sense of (maybe naïve) optimism towards the human ability to connect with each other despite our inherent differences.