Adel Abidin, Yesterday 2015

I find the lyrics from the 1965 Beatles song “Yesterday”, as a great metaphor to describe the situation in the Arab world nowadays, especially after the events of the Arab spring and the rise of ISIS.

A Hand painted site-specific installation is a reproduction the banner lines so typical of TV breaking news announcements. The translated English lyrics into Arabic of the song are wrapping around the rooms.

“Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday. Suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be. There's a shadow hanging over me. Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday.”

http://www.adelabidin.com/