Onions Are Definitively Tears

Onion Is Definitely Tears, is an experimental film about the vegetable itself. It connects various stories collected via smartphone voice messages from people around the world who have left, or seen people leave their home countries. Each individual shares their personal connection to the vegetable, often recounting childhood memories or using its layers as a metaphor to describe earnest emotions. Far from delving away into profound metaphors, the story rather chooses to peer through the onion’s many fascinating cultural representations. From its complex family dynamics to its nuances within pop culture, the narration navigates a set of surfaces and effects, tied together by thousands of years of heritage.

In this project, the onion is used as an affective shorthand by the interviewed people whilst being raised as a symbol to be explored visually and sonically by the artists. It is a collaborative effort between Nour Sokhon and Kaspar Ravel, to create a buoyant piece with the desire to exhaust the onion for its audiovisual and emotional textures.

The aesthetic experience and mood of the work are created by a combination of sonic and visual elements which can be thought of as memory fragments. These discrete elements are connected to the way we remember things through different mediums. To achieve this effect, Nour and Kaspar utilized an array of techniques that echo the layered structure of an onion and the process of memory loss. As a result the work offers a subtle subliminal space for us to experience these souvenirs as both critical aesthetics and cultural artifacts.

Credits

Sound Composition by Nour Sokhon

25AV is a pan-European platform for audiovisual arts and performance supported by Kiosk Radio, Radio Raheem and Radio 80000. The platform is co-funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme.

More info: https://25av.eu

Dates

A black and white photo of a protest where participants are holding oversized onions on sticks above their heads. The surreal scene is crowded with demonstrators in a city street, creating an uncanny and striking visual.

A blurred image of a crowd where individuals are raising giant, colorful onion balloons in a protest. The movement and vibrant colors create a dynamic and surreal atmosphere in the gathering.

A slightly blurred photograph of a protest with people carrying large white onion-shaped balloons above their heads, creating an unusual visual element in the busy street scene.

A motion-blurred image of a protest with participants holding aloft oversized, bulbous onions in a variety of colors. The scene is set on a city street with the focus on the floating onions above the crowd, adding a layer of surrealism to the event.

A dynamic, motion-blurred image of a crowd in a protest, with individuals holding large onion-shaped objects over their heads. The photograph captures the energy of the moment, with the focus on the oversized onions creating a sense of movement and urgency.