Sewing Borders (2018)
People contrive borderlines. The day-to-day experiences of residents of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, testify that such boundaries are anything but a given. Many have fled because of the violence in their homeland. For all, the borders of the nation to which
they feel connected have shifted over the years, such as Palestine, or even completely disappeared, as with Armenia.
Besides historical maps, Google Maps and official treaties, the sewing machine is an essential tool in this project. During negotiations, the borders of nation-states are being torn apart and redefined – with needle and thread. This is how the sewists in this video reshape
the sense of displacement that connects them. Mohamad Hafeda disproves the one-dimensional image of the displaced refugee as a fortune seeker or even a danger to the West. Many of them are caught between geopolitical processes that are unfolding
historically.
The video remains topical, especially in light of the war in Ukraine, a land the Kremlin does not recognise as a sovereign country but says ‘historically belongs’ to a large Eurasian Empire.