Ophélie Mercier is a PhD Student in the Department of Languages and Cultures. She graduated from Sciences Po Rennes and obtained a master in Conflict, Violence and Development at SOAS. Her first research explored theatre as a form of resistance in Palestine, doing ethnographic fieldwork with the Freedom Theatre. She worked in Cairo from 2013-16 as a street clown performer and social theatre practitioner with the collective Outa Hamra. Back in France, she coordinated for four years the work of the organisation Caravan, an international network for youth and social circus. In her PhD, she is exploring the life trajectories of Egyptian artists in exile in Europe, focusing on the reconfigurations of their artistic practices and looking at the transnational dynamics of the production and distribution of their art works.
