In this straightforward, but no less effective video, 24-year-old Aslan Gaisumov confronts us with the tragic conflict in his native war-torn Chechnya. This partly autobiographical document shows how fleeing families, sometimes by their dozens, try to fit into small cars in search of a safe haven.
Gaisumov develops an intuitive and poetic language that is trying to make sense of the consequences of war and the loss of traditions and identity that go hand in hand with it. When survival is paramount, fragile constructions, like language, fairy tales and symbols, disappear. Memories and family histories become scarce and are often lost entirely. But the fugitive, like Gaisumov, personifies a new generation. They propose a new, unique leitmotiv. Past and present are shuffled together and generate other symbols and metaphors that secure their continuity as a people.
Chechnya 2015
EN subtitles
Courtesy the artist and Kromus + Zink, Berlin
Aslan Gaisumov born 1991 in Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia lives and works in Grozny and Moscow
