Never Put The Za'atar Before The Oil

“Never put the za’atar before the oil”, my brother used to sigh every single time he caught me making myself a sandwich. “The za’atar will absorb all the oil and the bread will feel dry in your mouth”. Despite rolling my eyes to let him know how annoyed I was at the time, now you will never catch me putting my za’atar before my oil. I sometimes wonder why I do this. I would have loved to be stubborn and not give in to my brother’s know-it-all attitude, but deep down. I know he is right, and I know he knows best. Now every time I lather my pita bread with olive oil before I sprinkle my za’atar, I feel like he is going to sneak up behind and congratulate me. In retrospect, I notice more and more of this mimicking of behaviors, and while I wonder where my habits and mannerisms come from, I like to make up stories about where others’ deepest, darkest secrets come from as well. This brings me to the concept of the social proximity effect.

Through a work of introspection, I analyze myself in the lines of this phenomenon and showcase it in my animations. I chose four habits that I picked up from four different family members, in a celebration of human connections and as a tribute to them and to the impact they had and still have on my life. The sound was purposely restricted to foley sound, straying away from language to offer a universal side to my project.

In an installation depicting the duality of internal and external, my aim is to create a space where, for a brief moment, people can feel like they are in my shoes. By being vulnerable in front of my audience, I hope to create an intimate experience that echoes my topics of story-telling, growing up, and mimicking behaviors.

The sound is cartoonish to encapsulate the childish essence of the memories. I played with the textures and details or lack thereof in an attempt to mirror my personal memory. The four animations are meant to be played simultaneously, with overlapping sound, in order to create an environment where one has to focus on each in order to understand it.