Re-Locating soil & sand- Cardiff, October 2008

Ania sent me some sand from the Isle of Wight. Sand from her favourite beach on the island..

I decided that sand which came from the sea / ocean / water should go back to the water especially after knowing about Ania’s philosophy about the sand!

I went to Cardiff bay and looked for a place where I can throw some of the sand I have in the ocean. It was a very cold and windy day but it didn’t stop me from finding the suitable moment to place the sand again in the water. I still keep some sand to be relocated in Toronto Great Lake but still don’t know when..

However, and in the same trip, I had the other bag of soil. The one from Poland. There was a small park nearby and lots of trees as well spreading all over the area but what pulled my attention was a cut tree which looks lonely and isolated from the others. There is a small branch that grew up from the trunk announcing that life is still there! I just felt that why don’t support this baby branch with more soil? A Polish one!

Soil Letter from Ania - September 2008

Ania’s soil letter has arrived!

It looks like any normal letter but once it’s opened, I discovered how tidy it is! Ania sent me two tiny plastic bags. One of the polish soil, the other contains the Isle Of Wight’s beach sand. But what I liked most was the card in the letter. It wasn’t a normal card, it was a part of one of Ania’s artworks as I can guess.

What does it mean to be an artist?
(Please answer and pin the card to the board)

Seriously, it is quite a big question! I spent few hours thinking about the answer, yes, I did and I am still! The question sounds simple but the answer could be as simple as the question is or could be as complicated as our life is. What I am sure about is that every person would answer this interesting question based on his beliefs and views about his/her definition of ‘art’.

I don’t remember if I mentioned this before but I believe that we (people) who give the meaning of a ‘place’. The place is just a place but we create its meaning based on our experiences and feelings towards this place. Now Ania’s letter led me to realize a very simple fact about letters: we could also give meanings to the letters we receive based on our experiences. Of course, I would not be that much happy if I received this ‘artistic’ card along with the electricity bill! Anyway Ania, I will answer the question one day and pin the card to my board!

The dislocated soil

On June, 25, 2008, I visited Toronto for the first time. Lots of contradicting feelings were occupying my heart because at that time and although I had read lots about Toronto before going there and the image that was constructed in my mind about the place was very shiny and positive but knowing previously that this would be my next home / land for at least the next 4-5 years was something still scaring me somehow!

The ‘Cardiff / Welsh’ soil small bag was in my backpack all the time since the moment I left Cardiff heading to Toronto. As you know, I was planning to throw the soil there but I was waiting for the suitable moment or to find the suitable place for that. I passed by many interesting places and have been to many beautiful parks which are of course full of soil. I visited different beaches there and even thought of grabbing some sand for Ania but in spite of all that I just couldn’t throw the soil. Maybe all the previous places were suitable to place the soil in but none of them made me feel connected to it. It is all about my feelings here. My trip was amazing and my impression after spending 20 days in Toronto was extremely positive but I didn’t feel at all that that was my home. Yes I was still feeling that it would be my home but it is still not. That prevented me from placing the soil in Toronto this time. It was something very easy to do but I just didn’t want to. I will absolutely do it when I build up a more stable relationship with the place / my new home and feel like yes this is my home now!

Soil Letters from Hanadi - July 2008

Hanadi’s second soil letter arrived. Another envelop full of soil reached one of my temporary locations. I got the letter just after coming back from the Basque Country and on the way to Poland. Opened it to have a look, but decided to keep it in the envelope as Welsh soil looks surprisingly similar to Syrian although I know that Hanadi claims that they are very very different. It started getting tricky not to mix all the collected and received samples.

I am in my hometown for summer, and getting ready to get the samples of the soil by my parents’ home. I keep waiting for the right time. I keep looking for the right spot.

collecting soil from cardiff, June - 2008

This soil is not only from Cardiff, it was collected from the small park which is just next to the Art school that has been my main destination for two years! (By the way, this park includes few tombs placed in a very beautiful way)

It was a sunny day but the weather was hot and cold together I don’t know how! Anyway, the ground looked very hard but the moment I touched it, it turned smooth and offered me some good soil :-)

I grabbed two portions and put them in two different bags, one to be taken with me after two days to Toronto / Canada and be placed there. While the other one is to be sent to Ania at her current place in the Isle of Wight.

soil from Seaview (IOW) - May 2008

Soil/ examination

emotive edition
fine facsimile
garbled goo
homogeneous hum

England (Isle of Wight) - May 2008

I did not go to the beach to collect the soil. I went there to have dinner, and collected soil before I returned home. I had with me only empty Tesco plastic bag. English soil fits well into this wrapping.
This is my favourite beach on the island. It is quite empty and wild and only ships queuing to get to the harbour spoil the horizon. Tesco bag and the queue - reminders that I am still in England.

















Hanadi said: you collected sand not soil! Technically true. But more I think about the project and soil collection more I feel I come from sand not soil. Sand is more like me. Being relocated with every tide. Never actually sure where its coming from and where it is going next. I like this uncertainty. I envy sand never simply just lying down. Constant sailing and movement rather than hoping to settle down.

Have I mentioned that I suffer from seasickness? I even feel sick while driving a car! Crossing the Solent can be quite painful and i cross it a lot. With all my will and eagerness to relocate and be on a move this condition does not help. Silly body that does not want to adjust to the willingness of soul?

soil-soul, syria-wales. May 2008

It was finally a sunny day when I had a short walk to the local park in the area where I live.
I found myself going directly to a tree and felt as I needed to locate the Syrian soil under that tree. It is maybe because the Syrian soil was taken from under a tree and it should be relocated in a similar place! (this is my own personal feeling). However, the ground was very dry and welsh soil looked very hard. The colour was different as well; it was darker and browner while the Syrian soil tended to be more reddish and not too much solid.

I know that the Syrian soil will get mixed somehow with the welsh soil. It could happen by rain or by pedestrians but by all means it will merge in its new ground, get some solidity and maybe adds redder colour to the place! It is exactly like when people immigrate or live in a new environment. Even if they will be strangers or feel so and even if some of them will try to distant their values from the new society’s but at one stage they will be a part of the new society add to it and get affected by it.

Soil Letter 1- April,2008

It was a short meeting with Ania just before she left Cardiff. Of course it was at the train station!

Short but very useful!! I think both of us became more excited about the project after that meeting. We were supposed to have coffee but my feeling that we didn’t have much time to talk made me forget everything about the coffee. Next time Ania!

Ania was leaving next morning to Poland (Warsaw) and would spend only few days there but it was a good chance for both of us as I can send Ania the Syrian soil to place it in Poland while Ania can collect some Polish soil and bring it with her to the UK.

However, I came back home, got some soil from the original Syrian soil bag and put it in another bag to be put later in the post envelope. The process of moving the soil, packing it and then writing a different address to where it will be sent allowed some strange feelings to emerge. I still don’t know what these feelings exactly are but they could be around the lines that nobody knows what his / her fate can be! Nobody can ever guess where he / she will live or die..

Next morning, I went to the post office to send the “Soil letter” –Thanks Ania for this interesting name!- and was surprised by knowing that there is no express mail between the UK and Poland. The post officer said that the letter might take 4-5 days to arrive. Anyway, it was worth sending it and give it a try.

Luckily enough, Ania received the letter during the last hours of her stay and was able to do the task.

soil from Warsaw - May 2008

Soil/ examination

lacklustre/ lacy/ latent / lean litter

multiple/ murky/ mundane marvel

meagre/ mellow/ morose medley

negligible/ nerve-racking/ nomadic/ naked/numerous nutrient

Poland (Warsaw) - April 2008

START: Monday, Hanadi’s soil letter arrived in the afternoon post, it was late.

Lukasz was the only person in. I asked if he could take a few pictures of me in front of the house while I will pop some soil to the transparent bag. He said: fine.

I have chosen the spot just by the entry to the flats, under the bush (probably heavily used by the local dogs). The soil was hard but delicate. I took three or four fistful of it. Just right amount. It took only few minutes. It did not feel as it was long enough, as it had appropriate weight.

Lukasz took some ‘staged’ pictures of me and the bag in front of the flats from various angles, with and without flash. Ania on holiday style, no smile. Neighbours silently smoked their cigarettes in their windows and watched us as a new episode of the daily soap. We went back in.

END: Tuesday, at the crowded airport, security’s about to scan my bag, I wonder if soil looks as a forbidden item (no liquids, no sharp objects, no explosives). It was early. I packed the soil myself.

Pictures by Lukasz Partyka (I said I will mention, he said it is not necessary)

Syria - March 2008

In my last visit to Syria, I collected some soil from a farm and that was my first step towards this project.

engaging with nature and touching the soil with my hand was very important during the collection performance as soil is an essential element in nature and to fulfil the soul, I had to feel the soil..

I asked my sister who was having a walk with me to photograph me while I was doing my performance. Of course, she was shocked enough to ask 'what the hell are you doing?' I simply replied: "This is Art". She did not ask about anything after that and she was smiling all the time while she was photographing me but I still do not know what she was meaning by her smile!

After I put the soil in the bag, I wrote 'Syria' on it just to link the name of the place from where the soil was collected with the soil itself otherwise it could be any soil from any land. This makes me think again about identity and how we can identify something by relating it to something else such as a place... Soil could be soil anywhere but is it really the same?!

My sister's reaction was nothing compared to what happened in the airport when I wanted to photograph the bag on my way back to Cardiff.

What is Soilless – Soulful?

What is Soilless – Soulful?

Soil, nature, land, home, country, borders, greed, politics..

Soil, nature, land, home, country, distance, emotions, relationship, fear, longing, sadness, comfort, happiness, soul..

Hanadi (from Syria) and Ania (from Poland) are trying to discover the meaning of the previous themes and the psychological relationship between sand and soul through different approaches by going further than the limited borders of a country.

The project is based on major steps but it will be developed, maybe changed and more elements and ideas could be added through the process as we can think about diverse methods for presenting our views. However, collecting soil from a place and relocating it to another is the essential idea behind the project. But there are some more:

1- Hanadi is originally from Syria
She has been living in the UK for few years.
She will be moving to live in Canada for an unknown period of time which could be forever.

2- Ania is originally from Poland.
She has been living in the UK for few years and it could last forever.
She had established a strong relationship with Spain by engaging with people in Bilbao for the purpose of doing a different art project.

3- Hanadi lives in Cardiff (Wales). Ania lives in Isle of Wight (England)




4- Hanadi’s and Ania’s (ordinary) trips to other places are not counted in this project because establishing a stable relationship with the place and becoming linked to it emotionally, mentally and physically all together are very important to the artists. As a result, the soils that will be collected are: Syrian, Polish, Welsh, British, Canadian and Spanish. These soils will be relocated again in new places (countries), creating a new identity. This leads to some important questions: What is identity? Is it the soil? Is it the old place or the new one or both together? To what extent does the place affect building up a new identity? Can any identity stay pure forever? Is it exactly about the place or about the feeling of the place? The soul!!! ?

5- The artists decided to start the project from their home countries.

6- The artists decided to ask close people whom they like, trust, love.. to get involved in the project. After the surprise and wonder hits those close people about what the artists ask (because this was the reaction we have got so far), they will help in documenting the whole process of the action that will be called ‘Performance’

7- The documentation of the performance will be posted on this blog along with the artists’ conversations and the emerging ideas that will be observed during the process. Everything will be open for discussion with everyone.

8- Enjoy soiling!