Saskia Brand

‘We are made of stories - those that have happened, those that are still happening at this moment in time and those that are shaped purely in our imagination through words, dreams and an endless sense of wonder about the world around us and how it works. (…) Not to be able to tell you story, to be silenced and shut out, therefore, is to be dehumanised. It strikes at your very existence; it makes you question your sanity, the validity of your events. It creates a profound, and existential anxiety in us.’ (Elif Shafak, How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division)

Imagine: you’re a 22-year-old woman, who has worked hard to get her degree in marketing and who is looking forward to building a life for herself. Your parents died when you were only 12 years old, but you have a sister you hold dear and both of you were raised by your aunt. You just found your first job when one day, you discover that your aunt has sold you to an old man who says that he is husband. You feel utterly disgusted and betrayed, run away and try to hide, but then you realise that in your own country, you can never hide enough. He will keep looking for you. You decide to leave, and the only option you see is to go to a neighbouring country, where a human trafficker can take you to a distant land. You pack your two suitcases and decide to leave everything – everything- behind.

This is one of the stories that were shared with me, when I worked with Sub-Saharan migrants in Tangier, during a recent artist-residency with the Moroccan NGO Darna. Together, we traced their journeys, mapped out their financial support networks, recomposed the bags with which they crossed the border into Morocco, and made photocollages.

About

My name is Saskia Brand, anthropologist and socially engaged artist. My practice is about exploring stories, identities, and social change through research and hands-on creative practice. Guided by equity, inclusion, and justice, I work with printmaking, ceramics, textiles, papier mâché, and whatever material helps a story come alive.  

For more than three decades, I have worked alongside communities, civil society organisations, and governments in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Whether conducting research, facilitating collective learning processes, evaluating social change initiatives, or co-creating artistic projects, I am interest in how people who have been marginalised maintain their agency and humanity.

Anthropology has taught me to listen deeply. Art has taught me to create spaces for dialogue, imagination, and encounter. Together, they allow me to bridge analysis and action, reflection and creativity.  

The projects on display at the ArtEZ finals include the following:

Migrant stories and bags: what is it like to perilously travel into the unknown and what do you carry with you when you walk across the mountains from Algeria into Morocco on foot? 

The project concludes a three-month artisteducator residency in Tangier, carried out within the framework of the International Master Artisteducator (iMAE) program at ArtEZ University of the Arts, in collaboration with the Darna Association (Tangier), and supported by the educational, research, and dissemination activities of the UNESCO Chair’s Centre for Arts and Learning (UCAL).