Description of the works by: Shwan Dler Qaradaki - Be Patient & Salte Kyss ll
Be Patient – installation for wall with barbed wire
"The starting point for this installation is a rejection letter from The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration on my application for residence permit after living 10 years legally in Norway. I have “translated” the letter using barbed wire in a way that the barbed wire can be “read” like a page in an official letter. I cut the barbed wire with pliers into different sizes in accordance with the words from the actual letter. Afterwards I build the lines on the wall by use of nails and the barbed wire. I place the barbed wire upon the nails and match the spacing between the “words” to the actual letter.
The installation is to be placed on a wall, and measures 290 cm in height and 210 cm in width. In addition a sound file is played along the installation. The sound file is a recording from the answering machine at The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration saying the following in both Norwegian and English: Du er fortsatt i kø, men vi vil hjelpe deg så snart vi kan/ You are still in line, please hold, we will help you as soon as possible. The message is repeated continuously throughout the exhibition.
Through the use of barbed wire, which gives a direct reference to actual current events, I try to investigate the origins of and the symptoms to global questions related to immigration issues. For example the use of barbed wire to create borders between Palestine and Israel, USA and Mexico, Iraq and Turkey, and not to forget, as a means of torture in Iraq and Iran.
Salte Kyss (Part II)
Salte Kyss deals with my journey as a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan to Norway. Through the film I try to give a sense of how it was, as a child, to experience war in the war-torn Kurdistan. How it was to be an illegal refugee in foreign countries like Iran, Turkey and Greece and about my new life as a stateless asylum seeker and multicultural immigrant in Norway".
