Paris, *1982
When she arrived in Geneva to study visual arts
while working as a lecturer at the Beaux-Arts
school, Boutheyna Bouslama quickly faced the limits
imposed on her by her status as an extra-European
worker. During a study trip that was bound for the
city of Bucharest, she was turned away at the
border while the rest of the group was able to
continue its journey. She made on the spot the
film Mama Habibti. In it she fictionally corresponds
with her mother and offers up her feelings before
the injustice of the situation. For the screening of
her film in Geneva in 2012, she distributed in the city
a copy of her residence permit on which she had
printed an impossible discussion with the Cantonal
Office of Population and Migrations (OCPM) on
her status as an artist.
Boutheyna Bouslama, Papiers, 2012.
In 2014, Bouslama was ordered to leave the
country by the OCPM, after years of fighting to
have her status recognized by Switzerland. Just
before complying, she made Trittico Nights, a
first-person narrative of the last moments she
spent in Geneva. In various apartments, through
public squares, surrounded by anonymous or
indifferent crowds, the artist reveals the innumerable
nuances of her fears and joys borne along by a city
that is by turns dreamlike, violent, and familiar.