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Narciso
Narciso
© Ali Assaf. Still courtesy of the artist.

Narciso

Artist (Born in Al Basrah, Iraq, 1950)
Date2010
MediumVideo (color, silent)
Dimensions12:50 minute loop
ClassificationsVideo
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2011.14.1
Collections
  • MODERN & CONTEMPORARY
Edition3
State1
Label TextIn this video, the artist adopted the costume and pose of Caravaggio's painting Narcissus (1594-96), which he happened to see in reproduction on a recent visit to his native Iraq. The Caravaggio painting led him to reflect upon what a modern-day Narcissus would see in today's polluted water of Al Basrah, Iraq, the artist's hometown. The video begins with Assaf dressed as Caravaggio's Narcissus looking at his own reflection in water, but with time, objects begin to float by, first old photographs of his family, now all dead, then a head scarf, followed by a discarded water bottle and other refuse, until eventually his reflection is completely blocked by the garbage.

This video was created for the Iraq pavilion in the 2011 Venice Biennale exhibition. The theme of the exhibition was "Wounded Water." The artist's hometown Al Basrah was once called the Venice of the Middle East because of its many canals and similar architecture. Like most of the artists of his generation, Assaf left Iraq to study abroad and only recently returned. When it was safe enough for him to visit Iraq in 2010, he was shocked to see that the once-beautiful Al Basrah had been ruined by war, embargo and lack of water: the canals of Basrah had dried up, and were used to deposit trash.