bouchra khalili

interview

by JÉRÔME SANS

 

Migration divides societies, and the politics of exclusion is fueling social violence. 

The Moroccan-French artist explores how art can imagine a world without borders. Her maps, traced by migrants themselves, redraw geography outside the control of nation-states.

 

JÉRÔME SANS — Can art help people better understand migration and live more peacefully together? 

BOUCHRA KHALILI — I believe it begins with no longer speaking the language of power. No longer speaking of “migrants,” for example. Inventing another language, the language of equality. 

JÉRÔME SANS — Your work The Mapping Journey Project is an evocation of humanity’s search to escape conflict and famine. How do these different personal migration stories reshape official narratives about borders and tell the story of world conflicts?

BOUCHRA KHALILI — This project is not a work about migration, even though I under­stand that it can be seen that…