We’ve often wondered: do people in the Middle East just not see the trash that has taken over their lives? 10453: A Story About Life in 1 km2 of Trash answers that question with a roaring yes. they. do.
Written & directed by Camille Brunel Aoun and produced by The (B)IM Project or Books in Motion, this public comedy portrays life among trash. We didn’t get to see it as it was staged in three locations throughout Lebanon, including Tyre, Saida and Beirut, but we do have a few pictures from their Facebook page and a link to a short video teaser after the jump.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGkQTe3MQ-A[/youtube]
In its three-year lifetime, (B)IM has reached 10,000 people with free public productions rooted in the culture, history and literature of Lebanon. 10453, their fourth such production, tackles a disaster that has reached epic proportions throughout the country.
If you haven’t already, check out our coverage of burning tires and creative resistance to them. Read about Lebanon’s Mediterranean apocalypse – diving among waters devoid of life, and you’ll get a sense of just how pervasive are the problems of poor waste management.
Sadly, a great majority of the stories we cover in Lebanon can be tied to some kind of pollution, which denies its populace the cultural depth, great food, and fascinating historical heritage that once defined foreign perceptions.
So it’s great to see the people speak against this preventable Ecocide. Good art reaches into the heart and stirs up emotions – wanted or otherwise, which in turn provokes action. Judging by the reaction of audience members (“it brought tears to my eyes,” “we’re watching a horror film”), 10453 has done well to plant a seed.
And lest the trash mountain seem too tall to summit, there are solutions. Rola reminds us that, for starters, we can harvest the energy that languishes among the great trash mountains in Sidon, Tyre and elsewhere.
How sad that our generation has been left to make art with junk, the leftovers of an epoch of devastating greed. And yet how wonderful that we are still capable of it.
All images via the (B)IM Project Facebook Page
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
