The Story of Feniks and Abdullah

Lost in a city where the other is absent, a lover waits. To pass the time, he visits the Chinese Botanical Gardens and the zoo. He becomes a tourist. Everything around him reminds him of his wait, and seems unreal. "I’m waiting for you in places where you don’t want to go. I love you where you don’t exist." This video-poem, adapted from the book A Lover's Discourse : Fragments by Roland Barthes, was produced for the video artist in residence program at the Western Front, Vancouver.