Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom
Year: 2016
Produced by: LIFT and Royal Court Theatre; presented internationally by Artsadmin and other venues
Creative Team: Created by Tania El Khoury in collaboration with Basel Zaraa; performed by Basel Zaraa
Synopsis: As Far As My Fingertips Take Me is a one-on-one performance encounter between an audience member and a refugee through a gallery wall. The participant’s arm touches the performer’s arm without visual contact and Basel Zaraa draws on the participant’s skin whilst a sound work inspired by his sisters’ journey from Damascus to Sweden plays. Combining individual experience, performance art and drawing, the piece examines controlled separation and border discrimination in its controlled context. The piece considers the use of fingerprinting under the Dublin Regulation to determine where asylum seekers may travel and go as well as the return of migrants and refugees to where their fingerprints were first recorded. This encourages the audience to consider whether they need to “feel” refugee experience in order to recognise injustice, while also exposing the bodily surveillance built into migration regimes.
Source: Artsadmin, Events Listing for As Far As My Fingertips Take Me: https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/events/as-far-as-my-fingertips-take-me/ Tania El Khoury, Portfolio entry for As Far As My Fingertips Take Me: https://taniaelkhoury.com/work/as-far-as-my-fingertips-take-me/