An artist with a predilection for playfulness, Meriem Bennani makes installations and animations that may seem light-hearted, but register at deeper levels, with messages about identity and community in a challenging, chaotic world.
Her 2 Lizards video series went viral during the pandemic, a wit-filled reading of that era recounted through cartoon animals. More recently, For My Best Family, her acclaimed show at Milan’s Prada Foundation — featuring an exhibit entitled Sole Crushing, a percussive orchestra of flip-flops rigged to a pneumatic system, overwhelming visitors with immersive rhythms inspired by Moroccan musical traditions — closed in February 2025. Sole Crushing will transfer to Paris until February 2026 at Lafayette Expectations.
Bennani, who was raised in Rabat in Morocco, studied art in Paris and is now a long-time resident of New York.
What draws you to flip-flops?
Personally, I’ve never owned a pair of flip-flops. I actually really don’t like them. I like seeing other people wear them, but I’ve never worn them myself. Flip-flops are so banal and ubiquitous — they’re at the bottom of the fashion food chain — but that’s part of what makes them interesting. I’m interested in protest dances, and flip-flops lend themselves to being used as a musical instrument, plus they’re also so cartoonish in their movement. A single flip-flop is one thing, but if you have a thousand, then it’s evocative of a crowd.
How do you schedule in time for inspiration and new ideas?
My dream workday is where I just have coffee, meander around, read things, watch things online, research —essentially learning new things. And then, through that, sometimes some threads start forming that end up being ideas. I haven’t had that time for things to just naturally form in so long, but that’s what I want to do next because otherwise, you can’t make work. Creativity is not about magic. I think it’s just time and boredom — not literal boredom, just having enough time that you can get lost in things you might not think you’re interested in right away, but that widen your area of interest.
[See also: What Matters to Umit Benan]
Why did you choose New York for your base?
I felt good there right away. I think the people in New York are crazier. Still, it’s a really tough city, especially financially, and people on the street are struggling. It’s a city that is both terrible and awesome, simultaneously. When I first moved there 16 years ago, I felt freer as a Moroccan woman in New York than I did in Paris — freer to establish a visual language and push my imagination. In Paris, there’s such a presence of Moroccan culture that it can trap you in a certain image of what it means to be Moroccan. As an artist working in the realm of imagination, that might have constrained me to make art from a Moroccan perspective.
How does it feel to come back to Paris to present this exhibition?
I’m really enjoying showing in Paris. It’s a place I love to exhibit in because there are so many North Africans and Africans there in general. I love being able to connect with them through my work and have conversations with them. And Paris feels so familiar, even if it’s not home.
Would you recommend moving countries, especially to people who have only ever lived in one place?
I think everyone who can — financially, health-wise and visa-wise — should try living in other countries for at least a year. Even if you don’t end up loving your experience, the discomfort itself can be valuable.
How much time do you spend in Morocco?
I can’t not spend time there — I go several times a year. I love it; I need to be there. My family is in Rabat, and I make a lot of my work there too. I’ve filmed many of my videos in Morocco, often working with non-actors — with real people I find interesting. That doesn’t necessarily mean the work is about Morocco, but when I collaborate with people, that’s where my curiosity leads me.
How has living in three vastly different cities — Rabat, Paris, New York — shaped you?
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I feel the biggest impact is not the places themselves, it’s the fact that I have access to all of them. The most important thing is that in-betweenness, the cultural fluency in different countries and cultures. Also, when you come from a colonized country, or a country where you need a visa to travel, the world is always communicating to you that you’re not at the center, that the center is Europe or America. Eventually you understand that’s not true, but it forces you to know everything about the other culture, though those people might know nothing about us. We possess this double fluency, which is like a superpower.