The Craft (2017)

• 67%
• 2017
• Monira Al Qadiri

Envisaging international diplomacy as an alien conspiracy, The Craft is a semi-autobiographical work of science fiction that unearths the unlikely stories lurking in the shadows of the artist's childhood in Kuwait. Revisiting the fantasies that she and her sister elaborated during these early years, they depict the culture and rituals of diplomacy by which they were then surrounded as literally otherworldly to the current rise of nationalism and political populism. The VHS video asks: "Were my parents conspiring with aliens behind my back?" Reality crumbles, paranoia and speculation take hold. Pop culture, futuristic architecture, junk food, dream readings, alien abductions, geopolitics, diplomacy, war and peace: all of these once solid staples of modern life become tainted by a general sense of distrust. Like a ticking time bomb placed at the centre of the nuclear family unit, suspicion reaches a crescendo when the protagonist discovers that the 'American Century' has finally ended.