Empty Vessels is a dialogue between Sahrawi Western Saharan artist Mohamed Sleiman Labat and Aotearoa New Zealand artist Matthew Galloway. The two, who have had an ongoing correspondence since meeting in 2016, present a collaborative work focusing on Aotearoa’s reliance on phosphate rock from Western Sahara. The work traces the movement of phosphate-carrying ships from Western Sahara to New Zealand, raising questions about the country’s reliance on a resource tied to the displacement of the Sahrawi people. Phosphate is mineral rock used to make fertiliser, partly fuelling Aotearoa’s high-performing agricultural industry. However, the resource is controlled by Morocco’s violent occupation of the region, which has displaced the Sahrawi people from their land.

Video and sound editing: Ethan Sheaf-Morrison
Cinematography: Jon Wilson

HOW IS YOUR WORK INFLUENCED BY THE CIRCA 2024 MANIFESTO?
This work exposes the cycle of harm caused by industrial-scale, globalised agriculture. It counter-surveils the systems of oppression embedded within our current cycles of production. This work pairs two practitioners from the polar opposite sides of the world, who are nonetheless connected through the phosphate trade. Together, they look to break the cycle, to expose, to speak against, and to use their art practices to unify and amplify subjugated voices. The cycle will not break itself, but we can gesture towards new cycles, new ways of being, ways to come together toward a common future.

WHAT WOULD YOU CREATE/DO WITH THE £30K CIRCA PRIZE?
Galloway and Sleiman Labat will work together to make a new film which will both document the phosphate trade from disputed Western Sahara to Aotearoa, New Zealaand, while also featuring contemporary descriptions of the ‘family gardens’ now being grown in the Sahrawi Refugee camps. These gardens are the initiative of Mohamed’s generation, many of whom have studied abroad and returned with new knowledge and techniques, enabling greater food sovereignty in the face of ongoing challenges.

FOLLOW MOHAMED SLEIMAN LABAT & MATTHEW GALLOWAY ON INSTAGRAM