Connecting people through art 

Hazara’s Rehearsal, premiering here at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, is deceptively simple at first glance. One boy carries another on his shoulders, as an older child might carry their younger sibling. Meanwhile, the other boy mimes shooting a gun, a perfectly commonplace (albeit problematic) childhood game. Those who are more familiar with military weaponry, however, will immediately recognise the startling accuracy of the boy’s imitation of a Burst Assault Rifle. What exactly are they ‘rehearsing’ for? See their body language. Is the younger boy on the shoulders of the other an expression of care, or is he being sacrificed? What agency does he have left as he quietly and obediently takes up his imaginary rifle, whose shape and sound are so familiar? Their movements are tied together, and the ‘gunner’ becomes an extension of his ‘mount’, in the same way Afghanistan was so frequently used as a pawn and proxy between warring superpowers. Displayed together with Eyes in the Sky, the work forms a diptych of play deprived of innocence and encourages the juxtaposition of the two ‘games’ together. What is missing from these sparse and barren landscapes? Who is missing? What does it mean for the boys to play at ‘war’ when war has surrounded them since birth?