Tarek Lakhrissi
- Mark Auslander
- Mar 23
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Out of the Blue (2019)
Close Looking: Queer African Art and Futures
Context:
Out of the Blue (2019) by Tarek Lakhrissi is a 13-minute French-language Afrofuturist video that follows a protagonist on a surreal journey of self-realization, transformation, and radical self-affirmation. Blending science fiction, performance, and poetic narration, the work explores identity, power, and possibility within queer African art.
Visual description:
The video follows Mejda, played by Sorour Darabi, as they move through a series of shifting environments that blur the boundaries between waking life and dream. In the opening scene, the protagonist walks through a Parisian banlieue at dusk before entering a cinema. Wearing a purple hoodie, they fall asleep during a film screening, suggesting that what follows may unfold within a dream or altered state.
Upon leaving the theater, Mejda encounters warnings of an alien invasion. This leads into a surreal newscast, delivered by a poised presenter against a backdrop of outer space imagery. The report humorously suggests that aliens are targeting corporate elites while leaving the most vulnerable untouched, weaving together conspiracy theories, political critique, and references to Black feminist thinkers such as Octavia Butler, Donna Haraway, and Audre Lorde.
In a pivotal scene, Mejda encounters a luminous figure who declares them “the Chosen One.” Speaking in intimate, conspiratorial tones, she suggests that reality itself is shifting—that hierarchies are being reversed and hidden structures revealed. Mejda begins to recognize their own transformation, declaring: “I am the Chosen One.”
The film culminates in a performance sequence. Moving through a blue-lit hallway, the protagonist appears in full self-possession, shedding a fur coat to reveal a black dress. Standing beside a pianist, they deliver a spoken-word poem. The repeated line—“Bitter is the truth / You will have to get used to it”—anchors the piece, balancing moments of beauty and affirmation with a recognition of difficulty and responsibility.
Interpretation:
Throughout the work, reflective surfaces—mirrors, screens, and glass—recur, suggesting the instability of perception and the possibility of seeing oneself differently. The film draws on a range of references, from The Matrix to Alice in Wonderland and 2001: A Space Odyssey, reworking these narratives through Black queer and feminist perspectives.
Within the exhibition’s theme of Futures, Out of the Blue imagines transformation not as escape, but as a process of becoming. The protagonist’s journey suggests that new futures emerge through acts of recognition, performance, and self-love—arriving, as the title suggests, unexpectedly and with force.
Reflect and Explore
How does the film portray transformation? Do you experience Mejda’s journey as a dream, a revelation, or a performance? What kinds of futures are imagined through their declaration of being “the Chosen One”?
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Consider the use of mirrors, screens, and reflective surfaces throughout the film. What do these suggest about perception, identity, and transformation?
Look closely at the transitional movement sequences—the walk through the neighborhood, the exit from the cinema, the passage down the blue-lit hallway, and the approach to the piano. How do these journeys shape your understanding of self-discovery?
How does the film engage with the medium of cinema itself? What might it mean for the protagonist to fall asleep during a screening and enter another reality?
Research the feminist thinkers referenced in the newscast, including Octavia Butler, Donna Haraway, and Audre Lorde. How do their ideas resonate within the film?
Compare the scene in which Mejda is told they are “the Chosen One” with similar moments in other narratives, such as The Matrix or religious annunciation scenes. How does Lakhrissi transform this trope?
What do you make of the repeated line in the poem: “Bitter is the truth / You will have to get used to it”? What truths are being revealed?
How might this work be compared with Paul Emmanuel’s Untethered/Retethered? How do both pieces navigate dream states, transformation, and the tension between utopian and difficult realities?
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Out of the Blue Tarek Lakhrissi queer African art
Out of the Blue Tarek Lakhrissi queer African art
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