I, THE GREEN MARBLE; THE (HI) STORY OF MY WITNESS AND MEMORY
Cihad Caner
Amplifying the narratives of marginalized figures from complex, transnational histories, Cihad Caner's "I, The Green Marble; The (Hi) story Of My Witness and Memory" is a research-driven challenge to dominant worldviews, revealing the hypocrisy and shifting roles in global politics. A CGI-animated version of the iconic green serpentinite slab behind the podium at the UN General Assembly calmly and didactically admonishes his audience in a deep Italian-accented voice. Embodying over seventy years of silent observation, and having watched countless world leaders and revolutionaries, this sad stone character sees all these events blur into a collective memory that refuses to be forgotten.
An imaginative critique of the ongoing drama through the notion of a deep, pervasive psychological and emotional impact of colonialism and systemic oppression on colonized or oppressed peoples. Structural violence becomes palpable in moments of silence through slab’s micro-expressions of a deep, unresolved tension over the unending cycle of forgetting and tyranny.