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made in collective solitude were finally to witness
the power of the tenacity and potential of people
– men and women, young and old, rich and poor,
Muslims and Christians, the devout and the secu-
lar, peasants and urbanites – who converged at
Tahrir Square and in other cities. It showed ulti-
mately that in the case of Egypt, and other nations
struggling for a new voice and identity today, it is
not just about a Nation but about People.
The point of this film’s rising, splitting bubbles,
filled with the ‘breath of life’, is to illustrate the
potential of mankind, of the collective, to breathe
together, to show us that people have the capac-
ity within themselves to find a shared voice and
breath. This film, as explained by Melina Nico-
laides, is therefore dedicated to all of the silenced
voices and stifled breaths who, like those in
Egypt, were able, and will be able, in a moment,
to find their voice and the strength to persevere
in a state where the unknown becomes the reality
and the road ahead of new beginnings is long and
dangerous, where divisions will re-emerge. The
film left the unknown of the future after those 18
days pending, with the knowledge that revolution
brings heavy uncertainty. In Egypt nearly two
years later, we see that the cycle began once again
– we are seeing a return to the squares, protests,
the wounded, and more fatalities.
Despite the reality of the continuing struggle
everywhere for social equality, for freedom and
the building of just civil states, it is this satiated
‘breath of life’ that can remind us always that
solidarity is, indeed, a beautiful and potent truth,
and in relation to the totality of global culture it
can transcend national, geographic or racial lim-
itations, and be applied to any time, any moment
in history. In the artist’s words: “Solidarity is a
way we show our oneness with all of humanity,
to liberate us from the mundane human concerns
of which Loukianos spoke so many centuries
ago. It is a way to reaffirm our own humanity in
the social and political situation of our times and
to remind us of the importance of re-establishing
and reshaping destiny and identity, of the recon-
stitution of a collective memory, and of those
rare perfect moments in history when we are all
breathing together as one.”
This film was funded by the Cultural Services
of the Ministry of Education and Culture within
the framework of the Cultural Exchange Pro-
gram between Cyprus and Egypt.
* Melina Nicolaides was born in Washington,
DC and raised in Asia and Europe. She has
a BA from Princeton University and an MFA
from the Maryland Institute College of Art in
Maryland, USA, where she received the 1997
Graduate Painting Award. Exhibiting in Cy-
prus and internationally, she has participated
in biennales, art workshops and symposia, and
since 2001 she has shown her work frequently
in Egypt. She is the recipient of various art dis-
tinctions, including three National Endowment
for the Arts Visual Art Grants, and her work
has been written about in publications such as
the Washington Post, Art News, Contemporary
Practices Journal – it can be found in public
and private art collections in the USA, Europe
and the Middle East. Ms. Nicolaides’ artistic
process is motivated by a personal history of
constant reorientation between countries and
cultures; recently living and working for the
first time in Cyprus has influenced her thematic
interests and has inspired her shift into film and
installation work.