“For the purposes of this decision, she will refer to him as John Doe.”
(Taken from personal transcript of the online hearing given by Ontario superior court justice, Anne Molloy, March 3, 2021)
(Taken from personal transcript of the online hearing given by Ontario superior court justice, Anne Molloy, March 3, 2021)
A Hail Mary, 2023
Video (color, sound, 10 mins 30 sec), cardboard, golden nails, acrylic on canvas
A Hail Mary is an exploration of what is seen and unseen, visible and invisible.
On April 23, 2018, Toronto witnessed one of Canada's deadliest mass murder attacks. The widely reported incident is now famously known as the Toronto Van Attack. The perpetrator’s aim was to be notorious; internationally visible. My grandfather, who was visiting my newly immigrated mother, became one of the victims who lost their lives that day, inadvertently made invisible.
A Hail Mary is one part still image, one part moving image: a large-scale portrait of my mother and grandmother, painted in 2018, later becomes the focal point of the short-experimental video produced five years later.
The painting serves as a catalyst within both the film and my family. It is the mediator for movement and conversations between my mother and grandmother. The painting extends beyond the confines of the canvas, as filmed fragments of my mother's home in North York, and my grandmother's home in Amman, illuminate their ashy hollow faces. Though my grandfather’s death sets the stage in both the painting and video, it is the challenges of Canadian immigration that takes center stage, and the significance of religious faith, and the icon of Mother Mary, for coping.
"A Hail Mary'' can take on different meanings; a Christian prayer and/or an unsuccessful plan. In this work, one may focus on the portrayal of tragedy, the unsuccessful plan. You may be left with a story about home, baring witness to healing during a time of moving, mourning and praying.
A Hail Mary was commissioned by the Toronto Arab Film Festival with support from Trinity Square Video. It was exhibited at the Kingston School of Art and re:assemblage's third edition of DIFFUSION.