Moroccan artist Khadija Jayi’s Witness – Les Reliques De La Terre 070, 2024, is a visually and conceptually compelling piece that merges material destruction with symbolic reconstruction. Composed of compactly arranged burnt paper fragments and cut out photographs that show eyes wide open, this artwork is a statement on the act of witnessing. The eyes stare on unblinkingly, both seeing an unfolding atrocity while simultaneously being burned by this act; yet, they are unable or unwilling to look away. The artwork is both minimalist in form and rich in sociopolitical and personal significance. Jayi employs the physical residue of combustion—ashes and scorched surfaces—as her primary material, creating a tactile record of trauma, memory, and resilience.

The use of burning as a method is not purely aesthetic; it operates as a metaphor for purification and critical introspection. Jayi’s work can be understood within a broader discourse of art as both catharsis and testimony. Fire, with its dual capacity to destroy and transform, is central to her process. The act of burning conveys violence and rupture, yet it also signals the potential for healing and regeneration. In this way, the artwork functions as a visual archive of suffering and endurance. The scorched paper bears the memory of its ordeal, with every darkened edge and brittle surface serving as silent evidence of struggle.

The materiality of the work plays a key role in its interpretation. Paper, by nature delicate and easily consumed, represents vulnerability. Yet through the artist’s deliberate burning, layering, and arranging, it is transformed into something more enduring and forceful. This transition mirrors Jayi’s exploration of identity, particularly in the context of reconstructing a sense of self after trauma. Her process reflects what one commentator calls a “logic of annihilation” followed by reassembly. The ordeal of fire becomes a necessary phase through which past wounds are confronted, cauterized, and ultimately reconfigured into something meaningful.