ML2027 Invisible Borders / The 11th Trans-African Road Trip
23 January — 11 March 2027
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Help twelve artists, writers, filmmakers and researchers travel, make work and share encounters across nine African countries.
Re-tracing the Path of Stars
About the road trip
23 January — 11 March 2027
12artists, writers,
filmmakers & researchers
48days on
a shared road
9countries
north to west
7,242estimated kilometres
on the working route
Looking into India from Bangladesh. Participants of the Trans-Bangladeshi Road Trip looking towards India from the border in Bangladesh. This is a separate journey from the Trans-African road trips. © Emeka Okereke.
Archive film · 2012 edition
From the road: Invisible Borders, 2012
May Abdalla’s documentary follows Emeka Okereke and fellow artists during the 2012 Invisible Borders road trip, offering a window into the encounters and everyday realities of travelling and making work together.
Emeka Okereke: Invisible Borders
Directed by May Abdalla
Al Jazeera English · Artscape · 2013 · 25 min
English audio. YouTube offers automatic captions and translation; authored French subtitles have not been verified.
The player loads only when you choose. Watching here or on YouTube uses YouTube’s services and privacy information.
Watch on YouTube — opens in a new tabOfficial Al Jazeera programme page
01 / The road as a place to meet
A photograph begins with a meeting. A journey opens a question. Art gives the encounter somewhere to continue.
Since 2009, Invisible Borders has brought artists into relation with people and places through journeys across and within Africa. We work through photography, writing, film and the practice of being present: listening, learning and allowing the road to change the questions we ask.
In 2027, twelve artists, writers, filmmakers and researchers will travel from Marrakesh to Lagos. Together, they will make work and share it through conversations, screenings, makeshift exhibitions and publishing from the road.
Your donation would help pay for vehicle hire, fuel, transport and artists’ welfare, alongside the research and artistic work of the journey.
Partner support, including Fujifilm’s, is largely equipment and other in-kind support. That support matters, but crucial cash is still needed to put the journey on the road. This fundraiser is an essential part of the project’s funding.
Read the full artistic statement
A working route / open to the encounter
Morocco · Mauritania · Senegal · Guinea · Côte d’Ivoire · Ghana · Togo · Benin · Nigeria
02 / Supporting the journey
A journey like this depends on people: the artists who take to the road, and the local hosts and organising partners who help give each encounter its place.
For the Marrakech–Lagos 2027 road trip, we are raising US$65,000 to care for the artists along the way and create the conditions they and our local partners need to sustain the encounters and artistic work that will emerge.
Your contribution will help support travel, accommodation, artists’ welfare and the coordination that holds the journey together. It will also help us prepare encounters with local partners and support the creation and sharing of work along the route.
Care is part of the artistic work. It means having somewhere to rest, the means to move between places, and time and attention for the people we meet. It means recognising the work of those who welcome us and organise alongside us. These practical conditions allow artists and partners to give their energy to the encounters, relationships and work they are creating together.
We invite you to help sustain those conditions. Every contribution supports the shared journey and the people who make it possible.
As a donor, you will also be able to follow the road trip through the web and mobile app we are preparing to launch for this journey. It will offer a way to stay connected to the work you help support.
Give what you can. Help us care for the artists, support our local partners, and sustain what we create together.
A new card every 18 seconds. Choose a card to stop.
01 / On the road
Your contribution helps with transport, fuel, accommodation and coordination, so the artists can move and work together. The road is both our route and a shared space for research.
Movement · logistics · coordination02 / Encounter
Your support helps us meet hosts, exchange with local artists and share work in public. These encounters take shape with the people and places along the way.
Local exchange · screenings · public encounters03 / Making images
You help artists research and create through photography, film and related practices, with the materials and care they need to develop their work responsibly.
Research · production · care for the work04 / Writing & sharing
Your contribution helps us write field notes and share the work with people following from elsewhere. What is made on the road can continue into publications, exhibitions and the archive.
Field notes · publishing · archive05 / Shared support
You support general artist welfare, shared working conditions and the everyday coordination that keeps us moving together. Your donation supports the collective project and its participating artists.
Artists’ welfare · collaboration · administrationArtists may invite family, friends and their wider networks to support the shared journey. All donations support the collective project, including general artist welfare.
03 / An optional physical edition
A small collection of objects that carries the journey beyond the road.
We are preparing an optional US$1,000 collection for you: a printed certificate of thanks, signed postcards, a Road Trip T-shirt, a tote and a signed special-edition 2027 catalogue.
For enquiries about this optional collection, contact info@invisible-borders.com. Every donor receives a digital certificate of thanks.
From the archive / 2012
The work lives
in the space
between us.
Your contribution helps make room for time, presence and the unexpected. The photographs on this page come from earlier journeys.
04 / A relationship beyond the donation
We want to thank you personally and keep sharing the work your support helps make possible. Whether we thank you publicly is your choice.
You will receive a personalised digital certificate of thanks, whatever amount you give. It recognises your part in the journey and is separate from your official donation receipt.
Choose whether a name you approve appears on our acknowledgement page. Any social-media acknowledgement would also require your permission.
We will thank you and ask how, or whether, you would like to be named publicly.
We will update you every two weeks, connecting your support with actual work, costs and progress.
We will share a closing letter or conversation with you about the journey and what your support helped make possible.
Your donation supports the collective 2027 Road Trip: travel, research, artistic production, general artist welfare, encounters and sharing the work. The areas above explain the shared project; you do not need to choose separate funds.
Yes. This appeal is for the 2027 Road Trip. General donations to Invisible Borders support the wider, ongoing programme, including work that helps prepare the journey. The two donation routes remain separate.
The Road Trip appeal is for one-time contributions. The separate general donation page offers ongoing monthly support.
No. Every donor receives a digital certificate of thanks. For enquiries about the optional US$1,000 physical collection, contact info@invisible-borders.com.
No. The Invisible Borders certificate is a thank-you. The certificate does not establish tax eligibility, and we do not promise that every donation is deductible in every country or circumstance.
Invisible Borders Trans-African Initiative is fiscally sponsored by Social Good Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit fiscal sponsor. Please review the information in the Givebutter donation form before contributing.
Public recognition is optional. We will ask your permission before publishing your name on our acknowledgement page or social media.
Our US$65,000 goal is a gross target. The amount available for the project will reflect applicable fees and costs.
Yes. Public updates, field notes and shared work are for everyone. You do not have to make a donation to follow the journey or take part in the conversation.
We will update you every two weeks, showing how funds are used alongside the work and encounters your support makes possible. During the journey, the Road Trip digital platform will be the place to follow field notes and shared work. A closing letter or conversation will reflect on the journey.
The working route can change with local conditions. We will tell you about significant changes and their effect on the work, use of funds and any optional physical package.
Donations support general artist welfare and the shared conditions for research, production and travel. Artists may invite their family, friends and networks to contribute to the shared journey. There are no individual fundraising pots, personal allocations or artist-by-artist rankings.
Marrakesh → Lagos / 2027
Every contribution supports the shared journey.