A Gentle Breeze Passed Over Us
A Gentle Breeze Passed Over Us, HD, 6′, colour, sound, 2017
image from the exhibition, A Gentle Breeze Passed Over Us, Kunst Haus Wien
Hundertwasser Museum, 2017
A gentle breeze passed over us is a recording, with music, of the establishment of a friendship between Öğrenci and Ahmed Obaid, a musician and oud player from Baghdad, who came to Vienna as an asylum seeker. During the 40 days that she stayed in Vienna, Öğrenci spent almost every day with Ahmed and his friends, recorded the music they spontaneously performed and the stories Ahmed told every night into the late hours. The film series tells the story of resistance of a young Arab musician, who was forced to abandon his country after a childhood spent in the shadow of war, and then sought to build himsel a life with music in the city of Vienna.
image from the exhibition ‘Under the Red Sky’, Depo İstanbul, 2017
Film series ‘A gentle breeze passed over us / Nassam Aleyna Al Hawa’ takes its name from the Lebanese singer Fairuz’s song, often performed in the streets of Istanbul by Middle Eastern musicians; the song symbolizes the homesickness experienced by refugees.
video still, Living in Vienna, 2017
video still, A Gentle Breeze Passed Over Us, 2017