What does it mean to fight for your life ?

To fight for being able to love whoever you want ?

To fuck whoever you want ?

What does it mean to live 1.793,7 km from your loved ones but never allowed to see them?

What does it mean to be displaced ?

Will you cross the sea on a raft or in economy class on a flight ?

What does it mean to travel, for you who could not travel?

What does it mean to be invited to perform ? What do you have to offer ?

What did you put in your luggage ? What do you possess ? And who are you ?

Check point.

Un baggage Samsonite ou un baggage emotionnel ?

Yours look exactly like mine. Except that “en doré, sur la couverture de celui-ci est écrit titre de voyage pour réfugié.”

A two-tier citizenry. Everything takes longer when you're drowning in a sea of forms.

It is alright, you can pass as soon as you work hard.

And then, when you are done, you go home.

““One way!

Don't come back,

never come back…

Come back.

Back!”Don't come back, never come back, come back, back!”

In this durational participatory performance, conceived as a first draft, Ayoub Jasmina Moumen reflects on her journey as she leaves France for the first time since obtaining refugee status. She revisits a letter begun in 2016 and submitted in 2018 to Ofpra, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, the institution responsible for granting or denying asylum in France. The performance critiques the invasive practices of governmental institutions that, on one side of the Mediterranean, persecute LGBTQI+ individuals for their sexual orientation, and on the other, rigorously examine the histories of refugees to determine their eligibility and the racist implication of these classifications. This powerful performance serves as a testament to our times, speaking to the community and acting as a plea for solidarity, commitment, and a path towards healing.

About the Artist:

Born in 1991 in Tunis, Ayoub Jasmina Moumen is an artist-performer based in Paris and Marseille. Her approach revolves around body art as a concept and ritual practice. Through various mediums and supports, they invite reflection on the art industry, production chains, consumption, immigration, and issues related to gender. By using video and performance, she composes living tableaux, intertwining installations and artistic performances. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in fashion design and haute couture from the Esmod International Fashion University Group in Tunis and furthered their education with a DNSEP in Art from the EESAB. Exiled in France since 2016 because of their artistic and militant commitment to the LGBTQ++ movement in the Arab world, she created the clothing studio Refuge Engaged Wear (R.E.W. STUDIO) in the anti-fashion movement. She has also carried out several artistic performances in institutions such as La Porte dorée, Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration in Paris, Les Subsistances in Lyon, Bastille Design Center in Paris, Le CND in Pantin, Théâtre de Vanves in Vanves, La Flèche d’Or in Paris, Poush in Aubervilliers, and at Spazju Kreattiv in Malta.

January 25th, 2024, Copenhagen

Words and curatorial work by Elia-Rosa Guirous-Amasse