Exil

Installation, 2015, wicker suitcase, blend of grass

For most of my family repatriated from Algeria in 1962, the suitcase is a transitional object, which at the same time evokes the attachment to the past and remembers the heartbreak of departure. The suitcase represents a piece of the homeland of my parents which flourish again as a sign of hope and healing. Far from causing any bitterness, it would rather generally awaken not only the feeling of exile but also a confidence in a potential renewal.

Having to permanently leave the place where one grew up often means having to renounce ever seeing again the land on which one learned to walk and in which one’s ancestors are buried. Bringing its roots with you and and being able to build new ones elsewhere.

This is also represented by the idea of a plant both fragile but powerful in its dynamic materiality that grows, that manages to find the light and draw its energy in an inadequate ecosystem. Specifically, regarding materiality, I am interested in the contrast between the fragility of free and ephemeral material that constitutes chlorophyll and the forced and manufactured wicker.