Works
Telephone to Heaven (2022)
This installation was created by Sophia Al-Maria during the isolation period caused by the pandemic. In this work, the artist gathers such disparate objects as a pigeon racing clock, a wooden replica of Cho Chang's (Harry Potter character) wand, a metal globe holder, plastic eyes designed to scare birds away, a metal figure of a pigeon predator and the broken screen of an iPhone. The idea behind the piece comes from an intimate and also a political place. Al-Maria uses materials and revisits memories gathered throughout her migratory journeys over the last two decades, from mobile phone remnants to found objects. All of this is intertwined with references to children's films and symbols of popular culture that here are given a new meaning. Telephone to Heaven also addresses the feeling of disconnection in an age characterised by communication technologies, visual overexposure and constant digital surveillance. Pigeons become a symbol of disorientation in an environment where signals are distorted and dominant technological, cultural and symbolic structures produce disconnection and a state of hypervigilance.
