Faces of Reality: A Video Collage

'Faces of Reality: A Video Collage' is an interactive, multichannel installation that confronts viewers with both their own image and the suffering of others. Four screens are positioned in a grid, with two displaying live footage of the audience's self-image. In contrast, others project pre-recorded images of Syrian asylum seekers marked by grief and displacement. The installation's physical construction incorporates materials reminiscent of those found in refugee environments, rough timber, salvaged metal, and unfinished surfaces. These choices move beyond the visual, evoking the textures and atmospheres of displacement to create a more immersive, sensory encounter for the viewer. This deliberate juxtaposition positions the viewer's self-image directly adjacent to that of a disenfranchised refugee. In doing so, the work attempts to collapse the emotional distance created by mass-media coverage of violence and tragedy. Where news cycles often desensitise audiences through repetition and abstraction, the installation restores immediacy, forcing a recognition of shared vulnerability. The piece asks how empathy is constructed when personal presence intersects with mediated suffering. By situating the viewer within a material and visual frame that echoes the lives of those depicted, 'Faces of Reality: A Video Collage' seeks to bridge the gap between spectator and victim, reawakening a sense of interpersonal connection and responsibility.