Alia Farid

At the Time of the Ebb

For her work in Sharjah Biennial 14, Alia Farid traveled from the United Arab Emirates to Iran across the Strait of Hormuz to film the longest day of the summer. On Qeshm Island, where her film is set, the summer solstice is referred to as Nowruz Al Sayadeen (Farsi for “fishermen’s new year”). The work foregrounds a number of local residents whose performances draw attention to their material surroundings and natural environment–– from a brightly decorated domestic interior to an expansive sea view overlooking the Arabian Gulf. Amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between the Gulf countries and Iran, “At the time of the Ebb” achieves the exceptional task of giving visibility to instances of cultural overlap between the territories despite their jockeying governments. More importantly, it conjures a real and speculative time and space in which cultural, economic, and human exchange between Iran and the Gulf are not strictly articulated through infrastructures of trade, but also, and perhaps even especially, through life affirming expressions of hybridity that continue to provoke and enrich regional imaginaries.