TRIBUNE LOTFI AOULAD | FEBRUARY 2025
Diaspora Wonderland : An emotional journey through Afro-Mediterranean narratives
We grew up cradled by the memories of our parents, memories of countries they had sometimes left long ago, countries we have endlessly reinvented through our imaginations.
Diaspora Wonderland is an invitation to explore these invented lands, these inner and shared territories born of the friction between memory and projection, between family inheritances and recomposed narratives. Lands suspended between the shores of the Mediterranean, outside of time and beyond borders. From Berlin, this circular project moving between different European cultural centres highlights the richness of Afro-Mediterranean diasporas and questions how these narratives have travelled across bodies, generations and geographies. For the children born of exile often grew up with an image of their parents’ countries, a vision passed on by parents themselves distant from the transformations that had since unfolded.
This gap nourished powerful imaginaries, sustained within diasporic circles and shared with the wider world. The word diaspora, from the Greek spiro – “I sow” – evokes far more than dispersion. It speaks of ties, of attachments, of wounds and above all, of new creations. It is from this tension between loss and reinvention that these wonderlands emerge – territories where identity, desire and memory intertwine.
Through fashion, design, visual arts, dance and storytelling, Diaspora Wonderland invites us on a journey alongside artists and cultural actors gravitating within these cultural constellations. It is a sensitive crossing, where intimacy and memory become living material, enabling us to enter these wondrous worlds together.
Co-Curation edition Londres : Lotfi Aoulad, Founder of Das Relais & Fanta Diawara, CFO, Chanel
📍Venue : Africa Centre, 68 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 0BL
📅 Date : 19 september 2025
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ABOUT LOTFI AOULAD
Formerly a lawyer and then a public policy advisor, his journey has been shaped by a desire to inhabit different worlds: from the suburbs of Saint-Denis to international institutions, self-managed rural communities, as well as hospital and prison settings.
In 2024, he became a certified birth doula after a year-long training at the Maternité des Lilas.
He serves on the board of the association Rêv'Elles. He was also co-director of Nejma, a journal of Mediterranean literature, and supports several initiatives in the arts and fashion sectors. He is a member of the expert committee for the Arab World Fashion Prize.
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WELL BEING LOTFI ALOUAD | FEBRUARY 25
Diaspora Wonderland :
An emotional journey through Afro-Mediterranean narratives
TRIBUNE LOTFI AOULAD | FEBRUARY 2025
Diaspora Wonderland : An emotional journey through Afro-Mediterranean narratives
We grew up cradled by the memories of our parents, memories of countries they had sometimes left long ago, countries we have endlessly reinvented through our imaginations.
Diaspora Wonderland is an invitation to explore these invented lands, these inner and shared territories born of the friction between memory and projection, between family inheritances and recomposed narratives. Lands suspended between the shores of the Mediterranean, outside of time and beyond borders. From Berlin, this circular project moving between different European cultural centres highlights the richness of Afro-Mediterranean diasporas and questions how these narratives have travelled across bodies, generations and geographies. For the children born of exile often grew up with an image of their parents’ countries, a vision passed on by parents themselves distant from the transformations that had since unfolded.
This gap nourished powerful imaginaries, sustained within diasporic circles and shared with the wider world. The word diaspora, from the Greek spiro – “I sow” – evokes far more than dispersion. It speaks of ties, of attachments, of wounds and above all, of new creations. It is from this tension between loss and reinvention that these wonderlands emerge – territories where identity, desire and memory intertwine.
Through fashion, design, visual arts, dance and storytelling, Diaspora Wonderland invites us on a journey alongside artists and cultural actors gravitating within these cultural constellations. It is a sensitive crossing, where intimacy and memory become living material, enabling us to enter these wondrous worlds together.
Co-Curation edition Londres : Lotfi Aoulad, Founder of Das Relais & Fanta Diawara, CFO, Chanel
📍Venue : Africa Centre, 68 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 0BL
📅 Date : 19 september 2025
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
ABOUT LOTFI AOULAD
Formerly a lawyer and then a public policy advisor, his journey has been shaped by a desire to inhabit different worlds: from the suburbs of Saint-Denis to international institutions, self-managed rural communities, as well as hospital and prison settings.
In 2024, he became a certified birth doula after a year-long training at the Maternité des Lilas.
He serves on the board of the association Rêv'Elles. He was also co-director of Nejma, a journal of Mediterranean literature, and supports several initiatives in the arts and fashion sectors. He is a member of the expert committee for the Arab World Fashion Prize.
RELATED ARTICLES
WELL BEING LOTFI ALOUAD | FEBRUARY 25
Diaspora Wonderland :
An emotional journey through Afro-Mediterranean narratives
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DESIGN: SOLENN ROBIC
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© DAS RELAIS 2025
CONTACT:
FOR ALL INQUIRES PLEASE CONTACT
CONTACT@DASRELAIS.COM
DESIGN: SOLENN ROBIC
DEVELOPMENT: ACAPTCHA
DAS RELAIS 2025