The Skies are Blue, The Walls are Red, 2018

During her studies, and in reflecting on her own identity, El Ouardani developed a strong affinity with her parents’ birthplace: around the city of Nador in Morocco’s Rif Mountains.
Digging through the stories and memories of her summer vacations to the region, the visual dialogue she initiated posed a number of questions. Where is home? And where do we belong in a transnational society? How can we recapture a sense of ‘home’ without falling into cyclical cultural clichés?

The Skies are Blue, The Walls are Red is a visual diary contemplating the different layers of a diasporic identity. The images observe everyday life on city streets, paying close attention to architectural features,advertisements, the offerings of local vendors and people – primarily men. How can one represent their roots without feeling alienated from their own culture? Each of the images originates from the same question: is this me?

The project studies the notion of identity from the perspective of someone who has lived outside it, questioning its validity, and creating a conversation between the artist and the place she calls home.