Shadidah (Slingshot)

Al-Shadidah, 2024
Ola Al Shrif (b. 1996, Gaza; displaced in Italy)

Augmented reality installation

Facing the border wall to Egypt from her displacement in Rafah, Ola Al Shrif found herself imagining a slingshot large enough to launch people over the wall into safety. Her vision is realised with the installation Al-Shadidah (The Slingshot), an augmented-reality artwork that appears in public space. The slingshot manifests as a floating, ephemeral structure—its location “to be found,” its trajectory unpredictable—embodying the desire to move beyond fear, beyond walls, beyond imposed limits. The work traces the unsettled geographies of displacement, making absence and hope visible, and transforming survival into collective imagination.

This work has been developed in close exchange between the artist and Alternatives Denkmal für Deutschland. The model for Al-Shadidah has been designed by Diaa Assaf (Burj El Barajneh, Beirut, Lebanon).

If possible, please experience this sculpture at Hermannplatz, Neukölln, Berlin.