Project: The Transnational

Location: Umm Al Quwain for the Sharjah Biennial 14, United Arab Emirates

Date: March - April, 2019

ARTISTS: Delaney Martin Taylor Shepherd Alita Edgar

CURATOR: Claire Tancons

PERFORMANCE COLLABORATORS: Freek X Monster Crew Over 50 community participants

Emirati Photo and video contributions: Aisha Binsuroor Ameena Al Jarman Taqwa Al Naqabi Hessa Al Ajmani Hashem Al Ajmani Hamoud Mosabih Mouza Al Hamrani

The artists have conceived of a project around an abandoned airplane in Umm Al Qawain, conjuring up thoughts of travel, immigration, destination, visitation, home, territory and borders. At the site of this derelict airplane, Airlift artists consider embodied states of coming, going and existing in between by posing questions about national and personal identity as well as the meaning of home. Informed by extensive interviews and community workshops with Emiratis and temporary residents living in the UAE, The Trans-National (2019) uses the abandoned airplane as an open and indeterminate space of self-projection, collective gathering and reflection. The installation presents UAE residents’ messages, lullabies and imaginings of home in traversable portals under the wings. In the plane’s cockpit are photos and videos contributed by members of the Emirati community. In some cases, these personal histories date from times before the country’s unification in 1971. An opening ceremony processional for the installation was conceived in collaboration with a number of UAE-based collaborators, including Freek, a UAE-born Somalian rapper; X, a UAE-born experimental singer and composer of Filipino descent; Monster Crew, a choreographer of South Asian descent; and dozens of other participants from South Asian communities. A programme of workshops, gatherings and talks continued on-site throughout the Biennial.