Amira-Gehanne Khalfallah
- What motivated you to take part in our project?
- Any situation of invasion and occupation in the world revolts me to the highest degree, whether in Ukraine, in the occupied territories in Palestine or elsewhere... I will always put my art, my writing at the service of those causes which I consider just. No human life should be uprooted, no land should be emptied of its people, no tree burned...
- How did the war in Ukraine affect you personally?
– Any war, no matter how far, affects our humanity and reaches us in the most intimate way. Moreover, the war in Ukraine reminds me of the one I myself experienced in Algeria. I remember how difficult it was to make our voices heard, how not being able to travel and create affected not only my generation but also those that followed. The war cut us off from the world and above all from ourselves and led us to a withdrawal into identity.
- Tell about your project partner. What is common between you? And what are the differences that make you complement each other?
- Katia and I come from different worlds. It is precisely in this that his work interests me and that I wish to explore it. I have nothing to say and nothing to do with those who look like me. I rather need to create alongside those who challenge my mind, push me to think differently, who take a different look at beings and things... and it is in this sense that Katia's work allows me to move forward in my thinking and change my outlook.
- A few words about your joint work. Why did you decide to implement this idea?
– With Katia we had decided to work on the body. The woman's body which is the first earth. As soon as I saw the photographs in which she takes the stage, I was immediately struck by their force of attraction. They open their eyes and question the gaze.
- The first thing you will do when the war is over.
- When the war is over, I would like to go see Katia in Ukraine and think of new artistic projects together!
- What is the main message of your art work?
- If there is a message that this collaboration can convey it would probably be: art can where politics fails.
