Yumna Al-Arashi Instagram – Navel Gazing (Omphaloskepsis) 2-Channel Installation, 9 minutes
Floating in Lago Del Sambuco, the man-made reservoir of the recently deceased Basodino Glacier. An artificial site of a “new glacier,” which, with control, flows into the Maggia Valley, providing water and electricity for the canton of Ticino.
A glacier, a dam, a navel. Here, I gaze internally into my own navel which expands to the infinite loops of life and death, both natural and man-made. Navel-gazing, deriving from the Greek words ὀμφᾰλός (omphalós, ‘navel’) and σκέψῐς (sképsis, ‘speculation’), refers to the act of using one’s own navel to contemplate the cosmos. However, if viewed in excess, the gazing can lead to self-absorbed, narcissistic pursuits.
Not unlike the building of a reservoir, the gaze into one’s own source of life, the navel, a glacier, walks a fine line of renewal and destruction. I use the dying glacier, the artificial lake, and the rivers which flow out of it, to contemplate our futures co-existing with nature; constantly teetering the edge between life and death, good and bad, past and future. These opposites are seen with visuals of concrete and earth, in tension against one another.
The brilliant river ecologist James Niederberger @james_niederberger guided me from the Glacier through the river, and shot all the beautiful drone footage.
Asma Maroof @_asmara_ generously shared her beautiful compositions for the film
Commissioned for Unseen Reconstructions by Rafael and Deiara Kuoto @rafaelkouto @kutokouto. Thank you and all the great folks at @larada_locarno for supporting this work along its creation and exhibition! | Posted on 08/Nov/2023 18:18:16
