Tetescha us [She is crossing borders]

Using animated drawings, Stefanie Wuschitz abstracts the life of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon - without allowing her quotidian images of the Middle East to devolve into sensationalism. The end of Lebanon's prolonged civil war, in 1990, and the subsequent economic upswing laid the foundations for the utopia of a modern country. And yet, although people of various religions and immigrants from diverse areas co-exist peacefully these days, Lebanese society still harbours many disadvantaged groups. This video focuses on a group of girls from the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp whom the artist invited to participate in a cartoon workshop. The girls' stories, which have been interwoven in colour with the otherwise black-and-white imagery of the video, tell of love, family and loss. The Palestinians in the refugee camps possess no rights of any sort – and are thus denied integration. Often, the girls have no choice but to marry young. Tetescha us – Arabic for 'she is crossing borders' – reflects on the role of women, who here draw hopeful pictures, but whose lives actually take place within narrow bounds due to their gender and precarious existence in the camps. At the same time, they cross the line to adulthood, making them ready for marriage. (Philipp Lines Lange)