A Moment of Silence for the Shuhada' of Iraq

Taken from Eyad Hussami



You are invited to attend A Moment of Silence for the Shuhada' of Iraq. The performance begins at sunrise and concludes at sunset on the winter solstice, December 22, 2007, in Serjilla, a Dead City in Northern Syria. Tickets are free of charge, and reservations are not required.

a moment of silence

We take a moment of silence in homage to the deceased. It is a formal, public ritual that we perform for the dead and for ourselves. Traditionally, a "moment" contains sixty seconds, and "the deceased" refers to one person or to a group of people.

The subjects of this moment of silence are those who have lost their lives in Iraq due to the 2003 American invasion and subsequent civil war. The number of deaths to date ranges from under 100,000 to over 1.2 million.

In the wake of this ongoing indeterminate human loss, a moment of silence, whose very meaning rests on a quantifiable relationship between time and death, feels absurd.

And yet the ritual of silence is necessary.

This piece is a performance of silence whose shape and depth consider the indefinite magnitude of the tragedy. It is a gesture in homage to the shuhada' of Iraq.

shuhada'

Shuhada' is the transliteration of an Arabic word that literally means "witnesses." The word is also used to mean "martyrs," "those killed in battle with infidels," and "those killed in action." In the contemporary Arabic context, the term is used more broadly in reference to those whose lives were taken by acts of war whether or not they were active or passive participants in the event.

The term is often translated into English as "martyrs."

However, this translation is problematic. A martyr dies or is killed because of his or her faith, religion, or belief, and the idea of the "martyr" contains a causality between religion and death. The translation reduces the meaning of shuhada' to a religious context whereas I am interested in its contemporary, secular meaning, especially in reference to the passive participants of war.

Because the English language lacks such specificity, I opted to transliterate the word.

serjilla

Deserted some 1500 years ago, Serjilla is one of roughly 700 desolate Byzantine towns in Northern Syria collectively known as the Dead Cities. The circumstances, causes, and nature of the mass abandonment of this once flourishing region remain unknown.

Find out the directions here, and contact the performer here.

Be there!