Bouchra Khalili's 'Circles and Storytellers' at Mosaic Rooms explores MTA history through oral storytelling

Bouchra Khalili's exhibition 'Circles and Storytellers' at London's Mosaic Rooms presents four interconnected works examining the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes (MTA), an immigrant workers' organization active in France during the early to mid-1970s. The show features the 2023 video installation 'The Circle Project,' where two young French individuals of North African descent, Mia and Lucas, investigate the MTA's theater groups Al Assifa and Al Halaka. This exploration reveals the 1974 presidential candidacy of Djellali Kamal, a pseudonym for an undocumented hunger striker who represented immigrant workers. Another work, 'The Storytellers' (2023), is a 16mm film showing founding members of these theater groups reperforming sketches and poems addressing housing, racism, and working conditions. The exhibition includes 'Timeline for a constellation' (2023), a poster detailing the MTA's history from its 1972 founding following the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Algerian boy Djellali Ben Ali in Paris's La Goutte d'Or neighborhood. 'The Public Storyteller' features Marrakchi narrator Mohsin Touil recounting Djellali Kamal's story to young North Africans using regional oral storytelling techniques. Khalili employs montage techniques, archival materials, and non-actors to create cyclical narratives that connect past struggles with contemporary diasporic experiences. The exhibition runs until 14 June 2026.