Sahara for Forgers and Foreigners.
Yto Barrada and the "Invention" of Natural History
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/2974-6620/uon.n22-24_2025_pp216-233Keywords:
Decolonial Ecology, Yto Barrada, Invention of Tradition, Hubert Lyautey, The Mothership, Tangiers, A Life Full of Holes, Guerrilla Gardening, Migrations, Coloniality, Eco-FeminismAbstract
Since her debut with the photographic series The Strait Project. A Life Full of Holes, the research of French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada (1971) has been focused on a geopolitical reflection that targets the ownership of land, the mobility of people and objects, the frictions caused by borders, and the nexus between coloniality and migration.
The article describes critically the research about Saharan paleontology developed in Faux guide , in which Barrada articulates, with different media and an assemblage of historical documents, objets trouvés, photographs, souvenirs etc., the theme of forgery as a tool of redemption. The fake fossils sold at the Socco market in Tangier become a metaphor for the counter-narratives acted out by a people who have seen themselves robbed of their natural wealth, first with the colonial policies promoted Hubert Lyautey, the “inventor” of the tradition under the French protectorate, and then with the routes of tourism, the neglect of the indigenous botanical heritage and the loss of the traditions associated with it. The Mothership, a garden-home opened in 2015 in Tangier, aims at rehabilitating those techniques, through self-cultivation and textile dyeing, while prompting participation, collective learning and political awareness. An artist-led project, it represents a militant and “eco-feminist” gesture that sums up the tensions present in Barrada's work since its inception.
The article highlights the evolution of Barrada's gaze with respect to decolonial ecology (Ferdinand), considering The Mothership as a coherent outcome of the research begun with The Strait Project, according to her peculiar spiral working method.
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