Bouchra Khalili Morocco, b. 1975

Encompassing film, video, installation, photography, printmaking, and editorial platforms, Khalili’s practice explores imperial and colonial continuums as epitomized by contemporary instances of illegal migration and the politics of memory of anti-colonial struggles and international solidarity. Deeply informed by the legacy of post-independence avant-gardes and the vernacular traditions of her native Morocco, Khalili’s approach develops strategies of storytelling at the intersection of personal and collective experiences. With her interdisciplinary practice, she investigates questions of self-representation, autonomous agency, and forms of resistance of communities rendered invisible by the nation-state model.

Khalili’s work has been subject to many international solo exhibitions, including at Luma Foundation, Arles (2023); MACBA Barcelona (2023); FFT Düsseldorf (2022); The Vera List Center, New York (2022); Bildmuseet, Umea (2021); Oslo Kunstforening and Fotogalleriet, Oslo (2020); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2019); Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2019); Museum Folkwang, Essen (2018); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2018); Secession, Vienna (2018); CAAC, Sevilla (2017); Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus (2017); MoMA, New York (2016); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015). Her work was also included in major biennales and collective shows such as 15th Sharjah Biennale (2023); Autostrada Biennale (2023); Lahore Biennale (2020); Bamako Biennale (2019); BienalSur, Buenos Aires (2019); Documenta 14, Athens/Kassel (2017); the Milano Triennale (2017); Gothenburg Biennale (2015); the International Exhibition of the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); La Triennale, Paris (2012); the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012); and the 10th Sharjah Biennial (2011).

An award-winning artist, Khalili received the Grand Prize of 15th Sharjah Biennale in 2023. In 2022, she received the inaugural Terry Riley Humanitarian Award for the Arts (New York). A finalist of the Guggenheim’s Hugo Boss Prize (2018) and the Artes Mundi Prize (2018), she was also the recipient of the Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute Fellowhip (2017-2018), the Ibsen Award (2017), the Abraaj Art Prize (2014), the Sam Art Prize (2013), daad Artists-in-Berlin (2012), and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics Fellowship, New York (2011-2013). She is currently one of the finalist artists of the Marcel Duchamp Award 2023.