Is the notion of ‘longing’ a functional construct of multiple imaginaries? In ISMYRNE (2016), artist and filmmaker, Joana Hadjithomas sits with artist Etel Adnan to piece together their relationship to a site of origin, a place neither had ever been to. The film is an investigation of stories and experiences shared among two artists connected by ancestors through a city—Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey)—from which both of their families had been exiled. Their personal exchanges foreground the epic geopolitical changes and conflicts in the region over the century. Together, through poetry, laughter and a warm embrace, the transgenerational duo concede that Smyrna is a site best left to imagination.