‫بشرى خليل ـ ـ ـ ـ ــي‬

Bouchra Khalili Born in 1975 in Casablanca. Lives and works in Paris and Berlin. Née en 1975 in Casablanca. Vit et travaille à Paris et Berlin.

.‫ تقطن وتعمل بين باريس وبرلين‬.‫ في الدار البيضاء‬١٩٧٥ ‫ولدت عام‬

Still image from Speeches - Chapter 3: Living Labour. Digital film. 2013. 25 mins. From The Speeches Series (2012-2013)

On Living Labour by Diana Nawi Boucha video

Khalili’s trilogy,

questions Series

Living The

around

traces

the

Labour

(2013)

Speeches

Series

language

and

broad

contours

is



the

(2012–13),

final which

self-expression. of

a

piece

emerged The

globalized

in

and

her from

Speeches interconnect-

ed world and the place of the individual within it through the themes of language,

citizenship,

and

labor.

These

works

draw

on

and

extend

the tradition of civil poetry, the right of a citizen to speak in the public sphere, and each video is an articulation of the intersection of individual self-determination, and larger social, political, and economic structures. Living

Labour

focuses

on

five

individuals,

from

Mexico

and

West

Africa, who have immigrated to the United States and who now live and work in

Speeches - Chapter 3: Living Labour. Digital film. 2013. 25´. From The Speeches Series (2012-2013), view of Living Labour, solo exhibition, PAMM, Miami, 2013-2014, curated by Diana Nawi. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Polaris, Paris

New York. Each delivers a speech on the subject of labor—what they do to earn

Critical to each speech, as communicated through a memorization and recitation

money, the conditions that shape this work, and their reaction to their experience

of a text prepared by each participant, is a deeply felt sense of not belonging to

of the U.S. The participants speak of the struggle inherent to their daily lives, and

the place and society in which they find themselves—this is the subject of the sec-

their monologues are both trenchant and intimate. A middle-aged man from Mali

ond part of Khalili’s trilogy, Words on Streets (2013), which was shot in Genoa and

who works at a grocery store discusses the injustice and racism he sees and suffers.

addresses

ideas

A young man from West Africa reveals his dealings in the city’s grey markets, be-

jects

the

set by longing for family and home. A young woman from Mexico expresses the so-

cietal

fabric

cial inequality inherent to her work as a maid, hoping for change. Their struggles

Living

Labour

are not only for survival, nor are they uniquely personal; they are tied to the pur-

cate,

suit of dignity and human rights and to movements against systems of oppression.

whose

over

most

leaving

of course

around and

appear

immigration them

citizenship. of

this

them—for

project

taken

as

trapped

and

vulnerable

social and

on

as

the in

status

some

have

instance

have if

While

with

two of

a

into

who

activist

margins,

create

seemingly

Khalili’s

integrated

roles

the

of

without

the

the

appear and

clandestine fragile

subsoin

advofigures

circumstance, protections.

An ists of

exploration on cities

the

of

this

social

across

the

liminal

and

zone

economic

world,

one

that

ex-

periphery

occupied

by

immigrants and fueled by their labor, is at the core of Khalili’s project. When an individual does not belong, whether by feeling of exclusion or legal status, who are they? What is his or her role in the civic environment in which they live and work? What is to be said of a society that defines its members not by their necessary role in a civil discourse, but by their place of national origin and status within a legal system? Khalili’s trilogy explores the political and personal implications of these questions. Her project is a testimony to the lived reality of civic consciousness regardless of place, to the possibility of being a ‘citizen of the world’, engaged in the poetic gesture of public speech and in constant acts of resistance. In her hands the individual subjects of her video are offered a platform for self-definition and -assertion, a space for the refusal to represent and to be represented.

Speeches - Chapter 3: Living Labour. Digital film. 2013. 25´. From The Speeches Series (2012-2013). Video still. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Polaris, Paris

Front and back page: Speeches Chapter 3: Living Labour. Digital film. 2013. 25´. From The Speeches Series (2012-2013). View of Living Labour, solo exhibition, PAMM, Miami, 2013-2014, curated by Diana Nawi. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Polaris, Paris

Bouchra Khalili works with film, video, installation, photography, and print. Her practice blends an experimental approach with an interest in documentation. Through her projects, Khalili investigates strategies and discourses of resistance through current stories of migration, geopolitics, cultural identity, and belonging, as lived and narrated by individuals. At this year’s Marrakech Biennale, in Palais El Bahia, she presents Living Labour (2013), a film that exposes the social and material struggles associated with emigration, and also questions the relation between various kinds of belonging, whether legal, civic, or cultural. Structured around the idea of verbal expression as a means of claiming one’s identity and, quite literally, one’s voice, the work implicates five individuals who have immigrated to the United States from Mexico and West Africa. Each one gives a speech recounting their daily lives and labor conditions, exposing the dynamics of neo-liberal economies that have perpetuated slavery into the 20th century.

Speeches - Chapter 3: Living Labour, 2013, digital film, 25 mins. From The Speeches Series (2012-2013).

Bouchra Khalili travaille le film, la vidéo, l’installation, la photographie et les éditions. Sa pratique mêle l’approche expérimentale à son intérêt pour la documentation. Lors de ses projets, Khalili étudie les stratégies et les discours de résistance à travers des récits actuels de migration, de géopolitiques, d’identité culturelle et d’appartenance, vécus et contés par les individus. Pour cette Biennale de Marrakech, elle présente au Palais El Bahia Living Labour (2013), un film qui expose les luttes sociales et matérielles associées à l’émigration, et la relation entre différentes sortes d’appartenances, qu’elles soient légales, civiques ou culturelles. Structuré autour de l’idée que l’expression verbale est un moyen de revendiquer son identité et, littéralement, sa voix, ce travail est basé sur cinq individus qui ont immigré aux Etats Unis du Mexique et d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Chacun d’entre eux livre un discours qui conte leurs vies quotidiennes et leurs conditions de travail, exposant ainsi les dynamiques des économies néo-libérales qui ont perpétué l’esclavage au 20e siècle.

‫تعمل خليلي باألفالم والفيديو‬

‫ تمزج‬.‫والتركيب والتصوير والطباعة‬

‫تجريبية مع اهتمام‬ ‫ممارستها مقاربة‬ ّ ‫ تبحث‬،‫ من خالل مشروعها‬.‫بالتوثيق‬

‫استراتيجيات وسبل المقاومة‬ ‫خليلي‬ ّ

‫من خالل قصص حديثة عن الهجرة‬

‫الثقافية‬ ‫والهوية‬ ‫سياسة‬-‫والجيو‬ ّ ّ ‫ كما تعاش وتروى من قبل‬،‫واالنتماء‬ ‫ في‬،‫ في بينالي مراكش‬.‫األشخاص‬

‫تقدم عملها «عمل‬ ‫قصر‬ ّ ،‫الباهية‬ ّ

‫يصور الصراعات‬ ّ ‫ فيلم‬،)٢٠١٣( »‫حي‬ ّ

‫والمادية المرتبطة‬ ‫االجتماعية‬ ّ ّ ‫ كما تسائل العالقة ما بين‬،‫بالهجرة‬

ً‫قانونيا‬ ‫ أكان‬،‫مختلف أنواع االنتماء‬ ّ ‫مبنية حول فكرة‬ ‫مدنياً أو‬ ‫أو‬ ّ .ً‫ثقافيا‬ ّ ّ ‫الكالمي كوسيلة لالستحواز‬ ‫التعبير‬ ّ ،‫ وبالمعنى المباشر‬،‫الهوية‬ ‫على‬ ّ

‫يورط‬ ّ ،‫لالستحواذ على صوت‬ ‫ أفراد كانوا قد هاجروا إلى‬٥ ‫العمل‬ ‫الواليات المتّ حدة من المكسيك‬

‫كل واحد‬ ّ ‫ يدلي‬.‫الغربية‬ ‫وافريقيا‬ ّ ‫منهم بشهادة يروي فيها عن أوضاع‬

‫ فاضحين‬،‫اليومية‬ ‫عملهم ومعيشتهم‬ ّ ‫ليبرالي‬-‫النيو‬ ‫ديناميكيات االقتصاد‬ ّ ّ ‫بالرق واالستعباد إلى‬ ّ ‫الذي حمل‬

.‫القرن العشرين‬

Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Polaris, Paris

Marrakech Biennale Association C/O 7, rue de la liberté, 40000 Guéliz, Marrakech - MAROC Tél. : +212 (0) 661 13 18 08 [email protected] www.marrakechbiennale.org facebook # marrakechbiennale