

©Abeer Sultan, photo credit: Jens Ziehe.
Al Bidaya
البداية
2022
Two-channel projection
3:21 mins, colour, with audio
‘New Wave’ Misk Art Institute x Berlin Art Institute, 2022.
In Al Bidaya (The Beginning), Sultan researches the intricate relationship between death and digital representation. Drawing inspiration from ancient Egyptian, Mediterranean, and Arab death rituals, she creates a visual language that meshes contemporary symbols with traditional motifs.
This piece aims to create a dialogue with the audience about the meaning of death in our digital age.
Sultan poses critical questions: How do images shape our perception of death?
What role does the media play in its portrayal? She argues that representations of mortality on the internet often become muted, manipulated over time, and stripped of their original context. The camera is a potent tool that documents, intensifies, and questions narratives surrounding death. A single lens can honour or diminish the deceased, profoundly affecting our understanding of reality.
At the core of Sultan’s research is the interplay between the fleeting and the permanent, the decay of memory contrasted with the eternal reproduction of images (Benjamin, 2008). She creates a space that evokes abstract recollections through sound, poetry, and gestures, reconstructing the memories of the deceased using found online materials.
Sultan's work also examines the socio-political dimensions of death, investigating how social relations and tradition influence our engagement with loss. The artwork's title refers to the Upper Egyptian tradition of "Idid," where there’s a leader called ‘Badaya’ (The beginning point), which the lamenters repeat after (Wickett, 2012, 111). However, the silence throughout the video contrasts this expression of mourning, reflecting on the culturally set boundaries for grieving the dead.
Poem credit
Brigit Kelly, ‘Dead doe’, In 'Song', (New York: BOA Editions, 1995), 37-39.
Translated by Fatimah Abdullah.
'Archival Aesthetics' Misk art residency.
References
Sultan poses critical questions: How do images shape our perception of death?
What role does the media play in its portrayal? She argues that representations of mortality on the internet often become muted, manipulated over time, and stripped of their original context. The camera is a potent tool that documents, intensifies, and questions narratives surrounding death. A single lens can honour or diminish the deceased, profoundly affecting our understanding of reality.
At the core of Sultan’s research is the interplay between the fleeting and the permanent, the decay of memory contrasted with the eternal reproduction of images (Benjamin, 2008). She creates a space that evokes abstract recollections through sound, poetry, and gestures, reconstructing the memories of the deceased using found online materials.
Sultan's work also examines the socio-political dimensions of death, investigating how social relations and tradition influence our engagement with loss. The artwork's title refers to the Upper Egyptian tradition of "Idid," where there’s a leader called ‘Badaya’ (The beginning point), which the lamenters repeat after (Wickett, 2012, 111). However, the silence throughout the video contrasts this expression of mourning, reflecting on the culturally set boundaries for grieving the dead.
Poem credit
Brigit Kelly, ‘Dead doe’, In 'Song', (New York: BOA Editions, 1995), 37-39.
Translated by Fatimah Abdullah.
'Archival Aesthetics' Misk art residency.
References
Benjamin, W. (2008). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (J. A. Underwood, Trans.). Penguin UK.
Wickett, E., & ﻭﻳﻜﻴﺖ إ. (2012). Funerary Lament and the Expression of Grief in the Transforming Landscape of Luxor / ﺍﻟﻌﺪﻳﺪ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻌﺒﻴﺮ ﻋﻦ ﺍﻷﺳﻰ ﻓﻲ ﺳﻴﺎﻕ ﺍﻷﻗﺼﺮ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻐﻴﺮ. Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 32, 111–126. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41850740