THE MYTH OF “THE PRECIOUS”:

When the administrative border becomes a cultural border

PREAMBLE: THE VIEW FROM SENEGAL

Global mobility inequality is glaring when examining Schengen visa refusal rates. In 2022, African applicants faced a rejection rate of 30%, meaning one in three applications was refused. This figure is alarming when placed in context: it is 12.5% higher than the global average and ten times higher than the rejection rate for applicants from the United States.

However, continental averages mask regional severities. West Africa functions as a true “red zone” of immobility. In this region, an engine of cultural production (music, fashion, literature), rejection rates are prohibitive.

The artist Jean-Baptiste Joire (Jb Joire) takes up this subject through the prism of artistic intervention, in order to touch more closely upon the central question: humanity. In his project Le Précieux, which unfolds as an audio-visual installation, Jb Joire operates on a fault line between European privilege and African confinement, using critical art to visualize this bureaucratic violence.

The objective is to give a voice to those who are refused the right to move, sometimes without valid or comprehensible reason, causing frustration, and loss of time and money. Le Précieux addresses the difficulties encountered by those who, from Africa, attempt to obtain this mythical document to enter Europe. These works demonstrate how an artistic creation can transcend simple observation to become a tool for political awareness and propose concrete solutions to dismantle this wall, thus transforming the security discourse into a demand for migratory justice.

1. THE DIAGNOSTIC: THE VISA AS A TOOL OF DOMINATION

Jb Joire, a French artist based in Senegal for twelve years, occupies a unique position: he sees the asymmetry. He moves freely with his European passport, while his Senegalese peers are immobilized. In the interview he granted me, he makes this stark observation:
 

“I consider the people here as equals, but we are not equals in terms of migratory law. […] There is a major problem with obtaining visas in the other direction. Mobility is also a form of power.” — Jb Joire

 
This mobility imbalance is starkly illustrated by trade agreements such as the Cotonou Agreement (signed in 2000, and now called the Samoa Agreement) between the European Union and the ACP countries. This agreement establishes a power dynamic clearly in favour of the European Union.

Consequently, the West African region is flooded with European manufactured goods. These products, sometimes made from African raw materials, benefit from advantageous customs duties, thereby creating unfair and destructive competition for local producers, who are left defenceless
 
A. The Criminalization of the Artist
The title of his work, “Le Précieux”, ironizes the sacralization of the Schengen visa. To obtain it, the African artist must undergo a ritual of humiliation. Jb Joire describes this procedure which transforms the creator into a suspect:
 

“They ask for bank statements for three months where your life is laid bare. They take your fingerprints which are sent to Interpol. It’s delusional. It’s as if you were taking tests to see if you are a delinquent.” — Jb Joire

 
As decision-makers, we must name this reality: it is epistemic violence. The consular system does not judge the artistic quality or relevance of a cultural project; it judges a fantasized “migratory threat.” It declassifies the professional artist to reduce them to an undesirable body.
 
B. Opacity as a Strategy
The artist also denounces the Kafkaesque nature of the procedure, managed by algorithms and private subcontractors (VFS, TLS), creating an unbridgeable distance:
 

“It’s a lottery… You never know why.”

 
This opacity prevents any structuring of our sectors. How can we schedule a tour, how can we commit to European projects like Deconfining, if the mobility of our actors is a coin toss?

2. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: A COLONIAL RENT

The most critical point raised by this case study is financial. The immobility of Africans generates profit for Europe. This is what Jb Joire calls the economy of extraction.
 

A. “Fees Are Not Refunded”
The artist created an explicit image showing this inequitable exchange: the money leaves, the visa does not come. His economic assessment is chillingly lucid:
 

“In the end, it’s a business. They take your money, and whether your request is accepted or not, they keep the money. […] Why deprive oneself of a financial windfall?” — Jb Joire

 
The data presented in Dakar corroborate this testimony: with refusal rates approaching 45% for West Africa, millions of euros (often coming from meager cultural budgets) are captured at a loss by European consulates. It is a reverse wealth transfer, from the South to the North.
 
B. The Paradox of the “Brain Drain”
Europe justifies its closure by the fear that artists will not return. However, Jb Joire demonstrates the opposite: it is the closure that creates definitive exile.
 

“If people ‘disappear,’ it’s because they know they have one chance and they won’t get a second. […] We must give meaning to the journey and the return.”

 
By preventing fluid circulation (the round trip), the Schengen system forces the artist to choose between staying locked in or leaving forever. The current policy manufactures the very problem it claims to fight.

3. RECOMMENDATIONS: FOR MOBILITY JUSTICE

Jb Joire’s work and the reality of our “Beyond Horizon” held in Dakar on 18 April 2025, Senegal aiming to strengthen a dynamic network of engaged actors committed to decompartmentalizing cultural policies in Africa and Europe. To ensure just cooperation, we’re obliged to act. Here are the three axes of redress that I put forward on behalf of the cultural actors gathered in Dakar:
 

AXIS 1: The Presumption of Legitimacy (Fast-Track)
We must reverse the burden of proof.

• Action: Any artist or professional involved in an EU-funded project (such as Deconfining) must benefit from a facilitated visa. The official invitation and European funding must serve as a guarantee of reliability.
• Objective: To move away from the logic of the "delinquent" described by Joire and return to that of the "partner."

AXIS 2: Economic Justice (Mobility Fund)
It is immoral for refused visa fees to be used to replenish the coffers of European States.

• Proposed Action: Creation of a compensation mechanism. The costs incurred by cultural actors for refused visas must be refounded like it used to be.
  
• Objective: To stop the financial extraction denounced by the work "Fees Are Not Refunded".
  

AXIS 3: Radical Transparency
Opacity fuels resentment and weakens European “Soft Power.”

• Action: Obligation to genuinely and individually motivate every refusal given to a cultural professional, in accordance with the Visa Code.
  
• Objective: To restore dignity to the applicant, as Jb Joire demands: "It is a question of respect."

CONCLUSION

“Le Précieux” is not artistic fiction. It is the documentary of our daily life. As a partner of Europe, I ask the question: do we want a façade of cooperation, or a true partnership?
As long as the visa remains this object of arbitrary power, as long as we treat artists as risks and not as assets, we cannot claim to “deconfine” minds. It is time to open the borders to intelligence.