Guerrilla 2007

3 channel synchronised video work, duration is 25 minutes 58 seconds.

'Guerrilla 2007' is a documentary-style video work that provides personal reflections on the conflict in Lebanon. It is made up of three interviews, interspersed with photos from the recent destruction and revolutionary imagery. The interviewees are one man and two women, varying in age, speaking about their experiences of both the most recent incident and the twenty years of civil war. Each person approaches the subject differently; one as a freedom fighter, one as a young refugee, and one as a mother supporting and surviving the situation.

The work reflects on the myriad of ways in which society engages with idea of conflict, war and the individual. Sabsabi commented: “As we become bombarded with filtered images of war, complacency occurs. Our emotions and ideas are blunted through the spectacle of the media, which allows for image conditioning of acceptable behaviors and routines. People usually create circumstances, phases and personalities, then they disappear and take their stories with them. Those who commit an act usually disappear in their shadow. The people who remember are the minor fabricators, while the major fabricators sleep on the truth, becoming silent to their testimony.”

Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Khaled Sabsabi 2016