According to your IG first of all you are a “human rights activist”. Why is it more important for you than being a mom, a supermodel, a nomad?

Waris Dirie: The order on my IG account is not meant to be a ranking. It is obvious that being a good mother is just as important as being a strongly committed human rights activist.

Can you please tell us few words about human rights projects you are working on?

Dirie: For 25 years I have been fighting against female genital mutilation (FGM), one of the most brutal crimes against innocent little girls. More than 250 million girls and women worldwide have been victims of this brutal practice. The most important and sustainable way to eradicate FGM once and for all is to invest in education, as FGM is widespread in countries with a very high illiteracy rate. Together with my Desert Flower Foundation https://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/home.html, we build schools and protect girls from FGM with sponsorship contracts. All of our sponsored girls are not only protected from FGM and forced marriage, they are also all attend school and receive medical care.

Tell us about your foundation: how many women have you already helped?

Dirie: Since we began our global campaigns and prevention projects many years ago, the incidence of FGM among girls under 14 has decreased
significantly https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46128938 We saved thousands of girls directly with sponsor contracts and probably millions with our campaigns to stop FGM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDbr-5jWWmg, the books and the worldwide release of our movie Desert Flower https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsktvdH6n-c

You don’t underline that you are an artist, why?

Dirie: In the nineties, I was known as a top model and Bond girl, then as a bestselling author and human rights activist. Since my artistic work was always connected to my mission and humanitarian work, I was recognized as a human rights activist.

Is art important in your life now?

Dirie: Very important! Especially painting gives me a lot of pleasure and satisfaction.

What field in the art are you most into? Looks like you work with the mixture of different styles and even directions. It’s not only painting. You work with theatre and cinematography, etc.

Dirie: Being an autodidact, I learn by doing, whether it's writing, film, the musical, or painting. I learn from my own experiences. I always say that life is my university. Everything I am, everything I can do today, has been taught to me by my life. In recent years, painting has become more and more my preferred way of expressing myself. The colours of my paintings represent the light of Africa and nature in general. Nature is my inspiration. I follow nature and when I do, I always end up in a paradise where I want to stay forever. Only three things can give me that feeling of complete satisfaction in my life: Nature can bring me to this place. Music can take me to this place. And art can bring me to this place. These three things are my sensors that guide me.

What projects you are working on? What are your plans for the 2024th?

Dirie: I have just finished Samia, a new movie to be released and premiered before the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 2023, we opened "Heimat by Waris Dirie", a wonderful place in the heart of Paris with a 2,000 square meter state-of-the-art fitness and wellness center - for women only - a 200-seat theater and cinema, and a large exhibition space showcasing the works of great women artists. https://heimatbywarisdirie.fr/en/#
In 2024, we will be hosting film screenings, panel discussions, fashion events, dance and music performances, readings and vernissages.
My musical Desert Flower https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddJa1SJhoRM, which was performed in Germany in 2023, will be touring Europe and will hopefully soon be seen in London and New York City. In the meantime, our fifth Desert Flower Foundation school in Sierra Leone, West Africa, is under construction and by the end of April 2024, more than 3,500 girls and boys will be attending our Desert Flower schools.

There are mostly shining and bright pictures in your IG even when you speak about deep and dark topics. Do you choose it on purpose? To give hope? To show the light? Because your story is not simple at all, but your strength is really inspiring!

Dirie: I am a positive thinking person and I want to encourage people. There is so much to do in our lives. We can all make our world a better place. If we finally take action and not just talk and make promises that are never put into practice.

Is it correct to say that pain has brought you where you are?

Dirie: No. Overcoming the pain has brought me to where I am today. How to you deal with the pain?
Dirie: Each of us suffers from trauma to a greater or lesser extent. My advice to people suffering from trauma: Let it go! Otherwise, it will take possession of you.

Is it possible to forget? Can you give a piece of advice to everyone who can’t find the way out of deep suffering?

Dirie: Once again: let it go! Life is too short to waste time on negativity. We all have abilities within us, but they can only be released if you have a positive attitude.

Pose was created to be a platform to support young talents and show famous art works and photography, to combine people in art and fashion. Some of the works we get are pure beauty but sometimes it’s deep pain of the artist. When you work with movies, painting or theatre is it come from inside to express yourself or you feel what the audience needs?

Dirie: It all comes from within, and I am happy when people appreciate my work. When I do something, I do it 100 percent. I want to express myself through my work, my mission, my art. I want people to get a sense of how I think, what I want to achieve and what my task is here in the world.

You thanked so many people in your book. Are they still in your life?

Dirie: Only a few of them. But I always meet new people through my work. Wonderful people who inspire me and motivate me to never lose sight of my goal. I'm always moving on, as you know, I'm a nomad and will always be a nomad.

We thank you for this interview. For us it is important that you can speak with our audience as we had extreme feedback after our shoot and had so many questions from women about you and your foundation. With love!

Dirie: I have to thank you! Love & Peace