Fadi Aljabour: The Legacy Heritage

On a custom wooden board Aljabour is dancing upon various hand-drawn murals representing both colonial signs and symbols of Marshallese culture. The performance The Legacy Heritage contains dramatic movements similar to how Marshallese dance to depict stories through their traditional dances called “biit” or “jurbak” which can also be linked to colonial contributions.

Aljabour has composed a new form of dance in the same way to capture and express the state and layers of colonial heritage accumulation in the islands over time, irrespective of whether they are in harmony or opposition to each other.

Apart from that, alcohol bottles are hung on a tree of metal stand, rattling throughout the performance as they interact with the various dramatic dance moves signifying colonial impacts and the turbulent journey of the Marshallese people and their culture as a result. The glass bottles represent how alcohol for example is one of the things that the first German colonists brought to the islands.

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