“odyssée” is about my nostalgia for “le retour au bled”, a trip we, Europeans of Maghrebian origin/descent took part in, each summer for dozens of years now, to meet with our family in North Africa.
It is a reference to Ulysses/Odysseus' story, which is also about going back home.

A certain part of it made me think of the Maghrebian immigrants: the Lotus-eaters’ island. Arriving on this island, some of Ulysses’ men ate the lotus fruit, which made them forget about going back home. I saw a parallel with the immigrants who came in France to take on hard jobs such as working in the mines or construction work; hoping to gain enough money for a comfortable life in North Africa. Eventually, they decided to stay as their children, who were born in France, got used to the life there.
The Lotus-eaters island was identified as Djerba, a Tunisian island. As for the lotus fruit, it is considered to be the ziziphus lotus, a fruit growing in Maghreb. I painted a few of them, in a plate in the foreground.

Today, I fear that “le retour au bled” is a tradition bound to disappear. As our parents went on to meet with their own parents, brothers and sisters; we met our cousins, aunts and uncles. My own children won’t have any “direct” family back in Morocco, only distant cousins, which may lead them not to see the need in traveling there when they’ll be adults.
“odyssée” is about the next generation of Europeans of Maghrebian descent, but also my own questioning.

Way more than summer holidays, it is a nearly mandatory meeting with our culture and family from overseas. I experienced it as a child in the early 2000s, being born in France from Maghrebian parents. For so many people, who came in France to study or work hoping to have a better life than the one in Morocco; “le retour au bled” was also the occasion to reassure their families, showing them that they made the right choice by leaving their home country behind.

These trips played a big part in the way we, Frenchs of Maghrebian descent, consider ourselves today. We sometimes didn’t know if we felt more French or North African, more close to occidental values, or to the oriental ones. Going to our home country allowed us to experience another place in which we didn’t blend fully : we were seen as Maghrebians in France, and as Frenchs in Maghreb.

The truth is we are both, and we are very lucky for that.
“odyssée” is about my nostalgia for these trips, which I found too long, too tiring and too boring at the time; but which were also full of emotions and memories I’ll cherish forever.