The Diary of a Sky

Artist and Turner Prize winner Lawrence Abu Hamdan describes himself as a “private ear,” an independent audio investigator. He collected audio recordings from Israeli fighter jets and drones flying over Lebanon. In just one month, July 2020, the UN Digital Library documented 440 violations of Lebanese airspace by the Israeli air force.

The visuals in this essay film consist entirely of shots of that airspace, with the noise of the planes accompanying their white trails. The only purpose of flying fighter jets over Beirut appears to be to produce loud noise, “a symphony of violence.” Over the years their presence has become a routine and almost familiar act of terror. Studies show that the noise raises people’s blood pressure, increasing the likelihood of a heart attack.

The almost constant racket of Israeli military flights is broken only by the buzz of generators during the many power cuts. It is in these brief moments of quiet that local people realize what these aircraft are actually doing: they are committing an airborne act of territorial aural violence, on the border between the earth and sky.