Birdsong

By narrating multiple encounters between humans and birds across medium, territories and historical periods, Birdsong explores the role of design in shaping the identities of places and people by designing an agricultural monument of the everyday: a scarecrow in the Jawlan of Southern Syria. Since the Jawlan’s occupation in 1967, the Israeli military forces has destroyed most villages and farms and built illegal settlements upon their ruins. Having refused the passports of the occupying power, Syrians of the Jawlan have remained stateless for decades, a population mostly forgotten yet archetypal of the contemporary Syrian condition of determined struggle against systematic violations of basic rights. Among other activities, Jawlanis have expressed their resistance and attachment to the land through the cultivation of apples. This project - part of a larger series of works initiated by Sigil since 2014 that include a small-scale infrastructure such as well and windmills in Syria - is twofold. On an agricultural plot in the Jawlan, a scarecrow, a birdhouse, and an orchard of forty apple trees serve to support the local community in addition to an exhibition at the Fatheh Moudarres Center for Art and Culture, an active hub for the preservation and celebration of the Syrian history and identity. In Milan, a scarecrow wearing a talismanic garment is installed next to copies of a book showcasing forty illustrative moments of Syrian entanglements with avian species, whether real or fantastic.

Date of work: 2019

Location: Jawlan, occupied Syria.

Publication: Birdsong, 2019

Exhibition: Milan Trennale 2019: Broken Nature: Design takes on Human Survival.