Slam Bang Blue continues from earlier animations in an ongoing investigation of mechanisms of war. It draws from various transnational mythologies and current and historical events. The colonizing Centaur––a central figure in Barakeh’s works––originates from a 1933 archival image captured in Jaffa Square, depicting mounted soldiers of the British Mandate of Palestine (1920–1948), confronting Arab demonstrators. The photograph's graininess merges the horse and its British rider, inspiring the concept of the Centaur as the symbol of colonization. The Horse––an avatar of the artist’s own body with the head of a horse––depicts colonized subjects, embodying agency and resistance. The plot unfolds from a cavernous manifestation of the Horses’ subconscious fears and dreams that are inundated by traumatic memories of war inflicted by the Centaurs. Under the watchful gaze of a historical clock, the Horses emerge from the cave, to retake their land from the Centaurs, with the animation ending in an enchanted wave of consciousness.
Slam Bang Blue, 2018; animation; 7:10 minutes.