Papiers Pliés, 2007

Papiers Pliés, 2007

Yto Barrada
France, b. 1971, active Morocco and United States
Ink-jet prints
© Yto Barrada

Yto Barrada made Papiers Pliés by collecting the recycled paper wrappings used by vendors of snack foods—chickpeas, peanuts, sunflower seeds—in Perdicaris Park in Tangier, Morocco, then folding the detritus into geometric forms and photographing it. The printed French words taille (size) and expédition (shipment) indicate the sheets’ original function as forms from a textile factory and allude to Morocco’s past as a French colony (1912–56). Focusing on documents transformed first into food containers, then into trash, and finally into art, Barrada brings attention to dynamics between Western nations and the global South.