The Tethered
The Tethered is visually realized within 48 circles, a nod to the context of the birth of Israel in the year 1948. The archived moments of historical strife and personal struggle are set on a stage of repetition, time, and juxtaposition.
Through 12 years of personal video documentation, Alshaibi’s project extracts the connected yet contentious history from the familiar and often crude depiction of Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestine. The Tethered re-examines the struggles of the ordinary and extraordinary daily life of Palestinians living under occupation, as well as the occupying forces who are contentiously engaged in brutal force for power and control. Through slow and repeated actions of mediated moments, and a focus on details lost in the normalized hum of the mainstream media, The Tethered sets ‘the cause’ on an unfamiliar stage and through an unusual lens. By doing so, Alshaibi’s video demands a humanistic reconsideration of the ignored, unexceptional, and often marginalized mediated plight of the Palestinian struggle.
Excerpt of video art in custom black wood frame, 8 min 42 sec, 2012
