This Day 2003

Editor: This is Akram Zaatari’s "This Day," a film piece of 86 minutes. Its grainy black and white image showing a vintage car evokes a sense of nostalgia, almost like a recovered memory. What strikes you about it? Curator: The composition intrigues me. Note the stark contrast between the flatness of the projected image and the three-dimensionality of the architectural space. This juxtaposition disrupts any easy reading of the narrative. Editor: I see what you mean, it makes the photograph feel more like an object. Curator: Precisely. It also invites us to consider the materiality of film itself – its projection, its light, its inherent artificiality. How does that affect your interpretation? Editor: I guess it reminds us it’s not just a found image, but a constructed narrative. Thanks, I hadn't thought of that!