Artists in residence

Fanie Marais, born in South Africa, is a painter based in the Western Cape. He completed his N6 in Painting at Boland College, Paarl, in South Africa. In 2013, he attended a three-month residency in Paris, engaging with contemporary trends in visual art. His work has been exhibited widely. Solo exhibitions include Collage Koppe (2009), Wat is die mens? (2010), Pastorie, prente en portrette (2012) and Colour and Rhythm (2024). Group shows include Naak (2014), Vuleka (2014), Marikana en Moeders (2015), Instruments of Peace (2017), Skoonheid (2019), and Let’s Dance! (2025). He finished another residency at Cité during January and February 2026. His conviction remains that art brings meaning to human existence.

VISUAL ARTS

INSTALLATION

Maral’s Practice is informed by their experience as a gender non conforming person in post-Revolution Iran, their life in Kenya and a new layer to their identity which is being a refugee in France.

With the main focus of their practice being on gender and identity, previously they explored, gender equality, female body, and representation of women in oral traditions through projects such as Destiny, Boxes and Mothers and Others.

Moving to Paris, has inspired them to look into the relationship between bodies and spaces with a focus on safe spaces, and the possibilities of safe existence for non-normative bodies.

Maral’s works can be found in several collections including World Bank, Washington, and Absa’s permanent collection. They are the overall winner of Absa L’atelier competition 2017.

Nasim Mara’shi is an Iranian novelist, screenwriter and journalist. Published in 2015, her first novel Fall is the Last Season of the Year won the Jalal Al Ahmad Award, one of the most prestigious awards in Iran. It has become a bestseller of Cheshmeh Publishing and in a few years has reached its fiftieth edition. The novel was published in Italian by Ponte33 and in English by Austrahause. Published in 2018, her second novel, Harrow, has now reached more than 20 editions and has been translated into Turkish and Kurdish.

The writing of her third novel is the focus of her residency at the Cité internationale des arts. The project began five years ago and involved many interviews with Afghan refugees in Berlin, Paris, Rome and Toronto. This novel, which will follow an Afghan refugee family, will focus on the confrontation of said family with the new society in which they live.

“I think the second-generation immigrants bears the brunt of immigration,” says Nasim Mara’shi. That is why this novel will focus on the daughter as a representative of the second generation of immigrants as she inevitably becomes the link between her family and the new culture she discovers.