Haya al salat, haya ala falah*

The project describes the Maghrebi immigration in the 1960s, when workers came to labor in the construction sector. Starting from an etching of a travel prayer rug, the artist set herself to work by casting plaster slabs. Regularity, repetition, physical effort, concentration and accumulation: like a ritual, the work takes shape. A new slab, a new plaster rug is laid down, forming a kind of base. The installation thus takes on the appearance of a construction site.

Both heavy and fragile, much like the issues surrounding immigration, the installation sketches out a way of living together. Etching and plaster merge. No print is identical, shades of grey and variations in impression give depth to the gaze.

The province of Liège, like northern France, is a region where Maghrebi workers have greatly contributed and have long been present, whether in coal mining, the textile industry, steel production or construction. This migratory history is part of the memory of these territories.

The cart, made in Morocco in partnership with a local craftsman, symbolizes this displacement and the arrival of foreign labor.

*Rise for prayer, rise for work