Wars that cross generations Akram Zaatari's Lebanon
Akram Zaatari is part of a generation of Lebanese artists who have focused their attention on armed conflicts and post-war life in this Middle Eastern country. In this context, he produced Nature morte (2008), a video that shows two men seated in a drab, white-walled room. The older one, with a weathered face, is preparing explosives, while the younger one mends a jacket. The two men go about their business at the same time, without speaking. The only sound that can be heard is the call to prayer from a nearby mosque, the noises the men make as they work, and the hiss of a gas lamp. When they have finished their tasks, the older man leaves the house carrying a rifle on his back, a rucksack, his lunch in a plastic bag, and the mended jacket. The older man is Mohammad Abu Hammane, a former Lebanese resistance fighter who had already worked with Zaatari. His participation in this new work brings to mind the resistance years: an old man checks his fighting equipment. The lack of dialogue emphasises the distance between two generations that approach war in different ways.
