Jala Wahid's video 'Cry Me a Waterfall' explores Kurdish diaspora identity through music and CGI landscapes

Jala Wahid, a Kurdish-British artist, presents 'Cry Me a Waterfall' (2021), a video work blending Kurdish and English songs to examine diasporic connections to Kurdistan, a stateless region facing suppression. The film features singer Amal Saeed Kurda performing two love ballads—'Divine Kiss' in Kurdish and the title track in English—against backdrops of a sunlit forest and a CGI waterfall based on Bekhal waterfall. Visuals shift from natural greenery to digitized, glittering waters under a night sky, culminating in a metaphorical union where Kurda plunges into the cascade, beaming with light. Wahid uses language, music, and poetry to convey a fluid identity beyond geographical boundaries, with sculptural CGI flowers symbolizing reinvigorated memory. The work addresses cultural preservation through oral transmission amid assimilation pressures, immersing viewers in emotional intensity. It is on view at Two Queens in Leicester until 28 August, presented as part of Remark, an art writing platform by ArtReview and BACKLIT in the East Midlands.