Ear-witness Theatre/ Inventory (2018) at Chisenhale Gallery – Nominated for the Turner Prize 2019 alongside After Sfx (2018)– 95 objects ‘all derived from legal cases in which sonic evidence is contested and acoustic memories need to be retrieved‘ from ear witnesses description
‘How the experience and memory of acoustic violence is connected to the production of sound effects‘
Collapsing building = “like popcorn”, Gunshot =” somebody dropping a rack of trays”
Explores the ‘language of and between objects‘
I like this work because of the comparisons and the logical thinking that Lawrence Abu Hamdan has put into this work. For example, the fact that this is a representation of ear-witness evidence that has been collected and presented it in an archival ‘inventory’ way to further support that idea. I also like the visual objects of the audio description that the ear-witnesses describe and how it is displayed as an installation. So that we can link/ relate the objects to the sound described. It focuses and highlights on the language surrounding sounds/ audio and explores that ambiguity. Like how when describing a gunshot to a sound that we can relate to is “somebody dropping a rack of trays”. It juxtaposes from the violent act & audio of a gunshot when compared to a rack of trays. This theme of ear witnesses is applied to Saydnaya (2017) which is an audio investigation into the Syrian regime prison of Saydnaya. Its estimated that 13,000 people have been executed in Saydnaya since 2011 and the prisoners are kept in darkness, having only their hearing as their most relied sense, making up most of their memories & recollections of the place as audio memories. The work oscillates between the former prisoner’s testimonies and their reenacted whispers as sonic evidence. I think this work is important and valuable in telling the witnesses stories and revealing the harsh conditions of the prison as well as exploring the significance of sound / audio is. Art has predominantly been visual for all of its existence and though sound is just now getting recognition, I think people forgot how hearing/ sound/ audio plays a big part in our life. Saydnaya (2017) shows. how sometimes audio is better in recollecting/representing memories than visual imagery.
Another reason why I like Hamdan’s work is his activism & political (social) interest that he brings in. Like Earshot (2016) investigates the shooting of 2 Palestine teenagers by Israeli Soldiers in May 2014, that were denied and misconstrued by Israel media. Using art as a medium ‘a special techniques designed to visualize the sound frequencies‘, Hamdan found critical evidence valuable to the investigation and to bring justice to those who were immorally killed. Using sound as a medium and investigating it more, Hamdan questions ‘the ways in which rights are being heard today‘.
Sarah K Obina 
