Rom Alkadi:
Little Girls

"These young Bedouin women are from the area where I live. Most of them were involuntarily married around age 14 or 15 and even earlier. Today they are older, and open up to the camera and to me. While hiding their faces and identities, they talk about helplessness, the lack of an address to turn to. 

 

“The girls perform, without a word, with no authority, no horizon or escape route. The punishments they are expected to get if they rebel are very severe. I wanted to allow them to tell their story, which is silenced and unspoken. I also went through a very similar experience, and maybe this is what will take us out of the "circle" - from the arena of tradition, prejudice, and the difficult inner framework that binds you within the family, the community, and sometimes the whole bedouin society." (Rom Alkadi)

 

At the center of Rom Alkadi's exhibition was a video installation. Seven screens were arranged in a circle, and next to each there was a welcoming and comfortable seating area. As you strolled from screen to screen, one woman’s voice rose above the mixture of different voices - the singer, the narrator, the testifier, the one who hit the ground. The unheard voice of one of the narrating women is the most difficult to identify. All of these women were married while still underage, against their will. "I would have been buried here, among the thorns, if I had insisted on my refusal," says one of them. The artist has remained behind the camera, but her singing can be heard in the soundtrack of one of the films.