Sleepwalking

Doa Aly’s latest work leaves us wondering about many of its elements.

We don’t know what is real and what is an illusion; we don’t really know if the girl the hypnotist recreates actually existed or if she just existed in his dreams.

Who did the twins really see? and who was that girl who walked like (Zoe) but did not look like her? and does it really matter who she is? Or is it only her gait that matters? Why does the girl in the palace trace the sunlight until it disappears, whereas the other girl traces her own shadow?

These questions force the audience to either satisfy themselves with this mystery or draw up their own perspective of the story.

Doa makes the audience part of her work. As we watch her video, we see what she creates, while becoming part of this repetition. We then try to develop our own perspective of her work and reproduce it in these terms.


Doa plays on the abstract elements such as thoughts and dreams being performed by / reflected through human bodies. In the real world we become more preoccupied with the external distractions clouding our perception of who we really are, how we feel, what we think, and what our dreams or inspirations are.


The film shows a parallel between the state of hypnosis and the state of being asleep. In both instances our inner selves are set free. We are able to switch off the external world to a certain degree. We then turn on our inner self which enables us to be more focused, and perhaps more expressive and productive.

Doa/Zoe is hypnotized, allowing her to focus on the task of the impossible walk. The twins are sleeping, but yet are still able to see her and her walk. It is in this state of hypnosis/sleep that the twins and Doa/Zoe meet.


Doa then turns this parallel onto the audience. Are we hypnotized? Or are we put to sleep (dreaming)?

--Farida