‘With the barrel bombs falling on Ghouta, the Eastern suburbs of Damascus, civilians sought shelter in the basements of their homes. I was one of them, holding on to my camera. I tried to film what I couldn’t express in words.
The words that did come to mind were lines of poetry from Teresa Mei Chuc’s ‘The Bomb Shelter,’ from Saigon to Ghouta:
When bombs are exploding outside, It means that there are implosions. Vibrations travel through air and liquid. My amniotic fluid is imprinted with airplanes Dropping bombs and screams and fire. In the bomb shelter in Saigon, My father teaches my two-year-old brother French. “Je m’appelle Chuc Nai Dat.” “Je m’appelle…”‘ —Tim Alsiofi