Objects Talk Back After one of the Turfan archaeological expeditions in the early 1900s, a fragment of a Manichaean text written in Uyghur and Old Turkic found its way to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Originating from the Northern Silk Road region (now the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China), these “loose leaves” became a source of inspiration for Rawi Hage: “I was born near Byblos in Lebanon. The ancient city of Byblos is believed to be the place where the first alphabet was invented.” Encountering this rare and precious manuscript, with its layered and multicolour words, Hage reflects on the movement, uprooting, displacement and migration of both objects and people. Series Objects Talk Back published by Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss. Rawi Hage was born in Beirut and survived the Lebanese Civil War of the 1970s and 1980s. He emigrated to New York and later to Montreal, where he established himself as a photographer and writer, exploring themes such as homelessness, exile, and the consequences of war. His novels have been honored with internationally renowned literary awards and translated into thirty languages.
