Scribe (2017)
Luay Fadhil’s Scribe is one of the featured works in MCAD’s exhibition titled Constructions of Truths. The work portrays the narrative of a grieving man and his interactions with a scribe which is predominant in the culture of Iraq.
In the film, the figure of the ardahalchis or scribe is seen, waiting outside of a public building helping individuals to write letters or draft official documents. It is a ubiquitous scene, but in the film, the scribe serves as an allusion to the heritage of writing in Iraq, he plays the role of a mediator with the man who approaches him for help in writing a highly personal letter to his wife. The scribe serves as a hyphen between the man and his own anxiety, as he wrestles with what remains the most archaic and fundamental aspect of the human predicament: mortality.
The artist says in an interview that “the work is also a film about mourning where the main character visits him (the scribe) daily to deal with his grief, like a therapist. He wants to believe that his wife is alive, because he loves her. He resurrects her by talking to the scribe.
Originally commissioned for ‘Archaic,’ the Iraq Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, the subject of the film was chosen to highlight the age-old and near obsolete tradition of hiring scribes in writing legal documents in Iraq, in spite of the availability of modern technology. Prior to filming, Luay sat with actual scribes several times a week for four months for his research. His observations led him to conclude that nobody was comfortable talking to the scribes as they know all their client’s secrets who tell personal stories about families and loved ones. The artist adds that everyone in Iraq hates the scribe, including the judges and lawyers who commission the documents as they are known to swindle clients by adding extra regulations in documents to increase the cost of their service.
About the Artist
Luay Fadhil (b. 1982, Iraq) is a fillmmaker based in Baghdad. After training as a construction engineer, Fadhil took a course in filmmaking at the New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi and began working as a film director in 2009. He has directed documentaries and short films which he has presented at international film festivals such as Lipstick (2012), a film about sex education classes at a boy’s high school in Baghdad, which won the Gold Award at the Festival International du Film Oriental de Genève 2014; and Cotton (2013), a film about a young girl from a village outside Najaf, a holy city for Shi’a Muslims, that won several awards including Best Director at the Dubai International Film Festival 2014. Fadhil has been commissioned to produce a work for ‘Archaic,’ the Iraq Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. The film is about the ardahalchis or scribes still found in Iraqi cities, who write letters and draft official documents for people outside public buildings.
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Constructions of Truths is presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila in partnership with the Han Nefkens Foundation and in collaboration with Edouard Malingue Gallery, Kurimanzutto, Ruya Foundation and Silverlens.
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Read about the exhibition here.
Source: https://ruyafoundation.org/en/2017/05/luay-fadhil/
Artwork: Luay Fadhil, Scribe (2017)
Video stills courtesy of https://ruyafoundation.org
Artist’s Image courtesy of www.jcctunisie.org
