Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili gives voice to the stateless

 

As a child in Casablanca, artist Bouchra Khalili was impressed by an ancient world map created by Moroccan traveller, geographer and botanist, Muhammad Al-Idrisi. This map, which showed south as north and vice-versa, offered a decentralised representation of the world, which left a long-lasting impact on her.

 

It seems that, since then, all Khalili has done with her art practice has been “decentralising”, and slanting the viewer’s perception of north, south, up, down.

 

Known for her complex and multilayered narratives and a gist for plunging into the folds of the intelligentsia and the cultural world of the past century, today her profoundly intellectual art touches on the most pressing issues of our time, especially in regard to migration, colonialism as well as the intermingling of North African and European politics.

 

Her multimedia practice mainly involves film, video and art installations, aimed to spur critical and ethical reflections on citizenship, community and political agency, from the point of view of those who lack them. And, not surprisingly, maps and our biased perception of geography remain an ongoing interest for her.

 

Her “Mapping Journey Project”, currently on display at the Venice Biennale, captures migrants’ journeys across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Poetic and informative at once, this project was developed over three years, from 2008 to 2011, investigating the Mediterranean migration routes, and it remains a powerful and relevant work today.