What Zoulikha Bouabdellah strives for, she says, is to continuously seek the common thread in humanity that links people across divides of religion, gender, and culture. She taps into history and universal experiences, inviting her audiences to engage with an art that rejects intellectualism and can be appreciated on many levels. Sometimes the result is not what she had originally intended, but, she maintains that "paradoxically, through my transgressions, I try to tie the bonds again."

Her second participation at the Pompidou Center through its "Airs de Paris" exhibition in 2007 was a seminal moment. "It was the 30th anniversary of the Pompidou Center and my 30th birthday and the stars were all aligned in my favor. It was a turning point in my career," she smiles. Indeed, "Airs de Paris" led to an invitation to take up a three-month residency at Amherst College in Massachusetts. There, thrust into a campus bubbling with the intellectual and political frustrations of the Bush era, Bouabdellah was exposed to some of her most revelatory and formative experiences. Amazed by the multicultural mix and exchange of ideas, she experienced firsthand the impact that the Afghanistan and Iraq wars had — and are still having — on American society.

Two videos resulted: "Black and White 1" and "Black and White 2." The first featured footage shot from an American military helicopter, along with recordings of bombings in Iraq. In the background, male voices discuss the choice of a target. Over these, a lullaby plays. Bouabdellah also superimposed two boxed films, side by side, of hands playing a piano. There is an explosion. The target has been hit. The whole thing has an unreal, videogame quality to it. But, she says, "It's not a videogame. People are getting killed."

In the second video, a beautiful unveiled Arab woman hesitatingly sings the American anthem in heavily accented English while moving her hands in the ritualistic motions of Islamic prayer mode. In the background, aerial maps from Google Earth, on close inspection, show various areas in Iraq. The multi-layering of image, sound, and gesture combine into a strong commentary on the mixing of religion, geography, and culture.

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