Aliha Thalien, you're part of the firstthgeneration of Villa residents. What'was it that made you want to'apply and what was your project at the time?

Aliha Thalien: What made me want to apply was, first of all, my personal story. Both my parents are from Martinique, and for a long time I'd wanted to create links with Latin and Central America, territories that are geographically close but with which artistic exchanges remain, I find, difficult. While looking for residencies on the continent, particularly in Colombia or Brazil, I came across Villa CreaColombia, at a time whenwhere I was wondering just how to work in this region in a professional setting.

My project was about the link between mangroves and marronage, and howèthis history continues to have effects today, particularly among Afro-descendant Latin American populations. I wanted to explore the similarities and differences with French-speaking territories, taking into account differences in language, demographic and cultural context. It was also a wayèof questioning what's being played out in Martinique's neighboring countries.

Concrètement, the project took the form of a science-fiction video, mixing 3D and real shots, accompanied by work around pearls. The residency came at a charmedère moment for me: as a première step to open up this field of research and initiate connections that I now wish to pursue.

Philippe Murcia: In Aliha Thalien's case, the residency was fully in line with the program's philosophy. Colombia is a Caribbean country, with a strong cultural proximity to the Caraïbe française, and one of our objectives is to create lasting bridges between these territories. The residency is conceived as a tool to activate these circulations.

The Bogotá call for applications targeted artists working on Afro-descendant and Amerindian heritages, in connection with the Caraïbe française. This thematic approach opened up a dialogue between the Caribbean worlds, while highlightingèColombia as a little-identified terrain, despite being the thirdèmost Afro-descendant country in the Americas. The challenge was also to make this cartography more legible and to offer artists concrete tools to envisage Colombia as a space for research and creation in its own righte.

You were welcomed at Casablanca Casa Fernández, an emblematic artistic venue in Bogotá. How didthe residency go and what did it bring you?

Aliha Thalien:The reresidency took place in a veryès flexible and open framework, which gave me a great deal of freedom to organize. I was accompaniedby the eteams at Casa Kitambo, Catherine and Monica, who offered me invaluable accessès to a libraryè, numerous resources and a network of people to meet and feed my research. It was above all a research residency, centered on encounters, readings, exhibitions and exploration of local contexts.

This immersion profoundly deplaced my project. I had arrived with preconceived ideas, and Bogotá turned out to be veryès different from what I had imagined, particularly in terms of the presence of Afro-descendant communities, located more on the coast. This observation led me to extend my work to Carthagène, in order to better understand Caribbean issues and the contrasts between these territories.

The reresidency m also enabled me to take on a longer creative timeframe. The project, which mixes research, 3D and fiction, continues to evolve and is now part of a slower temporality, extended over several months, even years. Exchanges withc researchers and artists, such as Nohora Arrieta Fernàndez, professor at UCLA, Felipe Arturo and Diana Ángulo, professors at the University of Rosario, or Javier Ortiz Cassiani, notably around marronage, mangroves, South American biodiversity and the place of Afro-descendants in Colombian society, as well as the discovery of places like the musées de l'or in Bogotá and Carthagène, have opened up new avenues, still under development.

This immersion profoundly unplaced my project. I had arrived with preconived ideas, and Bogotá turned out to be veryès different from what I imagined.

Philippe, how do you see the'future of Villa CreaColombia? How do you plan to develop this residency program?

Philippe Murcia: The future of the Villa CreaColombia rests firston its sustainability. The program has been designed over a cycle of several years, thanks in particular to mechanisms such as the Fabrique des Résidences, which offer visibility and stability over three years. This makes it possible to consolidate partnerships, refine working methods and establish the project over the long term, beyond the people who carry it forward from time to time.

A central axis of its development remains reciprocityé. Many Colombian players such as cultural institutions, public agencies and museums are now expressing the wish to see their artists circulate more widely in France, under the right conditions. The Villa CreaColombia brings precisely this quality of support and attention to the framework of residencies: shared choices of artists, involvement of local partners dès juries, and respect for research timeframes, with no immediate obligation to produce.

The challenge is also to preserve this flexibility, which allows artists to explore, to branch off, to leave room for serendipité, as in the case of residencies conceived above all as times for fertile research. In the longer term, the program could be extended to new territories not yet included on the current map, such as the Amazon, provided that the necessary resources and partners are found. So it's a question of both consolidating the existing core and thinking about progressive growth, in the service of a truly shared artistic circulation between Colombia and France.

Aliha Thalien, afterès this residency, what will 2026 be made of for you?

Aliha Thalien: In 2026, I'll be continuing the development of the project begun during the residency, by inscribing it in a longer timeframe, which corresponds more to my way of working today. I plan to produce an installation presenting a short film and a set of sculptures, and I'm currently finishing writing the film part.

In parallelèle, I'm focusing mainly on writing and the prparation of my first feature film, a project that teaches me to slow down and accept more extended temporalities. Shooting of a firstpart is scheduled for early 2026. It's a hybrid documentary, set between Martinique and the Paris region, that questions the consequences of BUMIDOM, the scheme set up in the 1960s to organize the migration of overseas populations to France. This program, in which my grandmotherère herself took part, had a profoundimpact on individual and collective trajectories, and continues to have visible effects today, notably on the aging of the Martinican population.