“I feel like I’ve been leaving Detroit all my life,” says Karima from her apartment in Paris.
I must preface this piece by saying that Karima Sorel is one of my best friends. We speak often about the geographical distance between us. And I imagine she has put herself into the colorful mural she painted on the wall of Zinc over ten years ago.
Karima moved back to Detroit from Bahia, Brazil in 2008. For over a decade she was raising her children, and painting murals in public spaces in Bahia. Upon her return, in 2008, with her children and her husband—they decided to open a restaurant serving crepes.
This piece will offer all the objectivity I can give with a tint of my love for my best friend.
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At Chateau Orquevaux in the French countryside.Le Petit Zinc was one of the most acclaimed restaurants in Detroit for years, drawing attention from the New York Times and even Martha Stewart. The tiny crepe shop served French-inspired dishes including their signature ratatouille recipe created by Charles Sorel. The restaurant was first located on Michigan and Trumbull where it opened in 2009. Serving up crepes and coffees in a tiny, off-the-beaten-path location.
Karima designed the layout of the Zinc, painted murals on the walls, and did all the interior design of the cafe. In 2018 Sorel changed Le Petit Zinc’s location to a swanky location on Alexandrine at the Strathmore Apartments building. The relocation was a new design challenge for Karima, since so much of the charm of the Zinc was the reuse of an older space. The “white box” Midtown provided was a new opportunity for Karima’s design skills.
In 2015, Karima was diagnosed with breast cancer.
My friend, still in her late 30s at the time, underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and eventually healed and recovered. She found herself unable to paint during those years. She felt that political landscape of the state caused her stress and threatened her health. Emergency management, and the Flint water crisis made her feel helpless and inspired a need to move, yet again, out of Detroit.
After surviving cancer, she wanted her young children to be close to their father and moved to Paris. Where he was born and was, at the time, living and working. Arriving in France was an enormous adjustment. Karima found a new world to discover, and faced the daily challenge of navigating a new culture.
When I asked her about the murals left behind, Karima responds “the work of the artist is to create, and then give it away to the world."
In Paris, she has all four of her children with her. Her eldest daughters are adults and artists in their own rights. She has been recalling her origins. Most people don’t know, but even as a teenager, she knew she wanted to be an artist.
She has been channeling Frida Kahlo.
As she gets older, she can see the similarities in one of her favorite artists and her own life.
“I reconnected a really deep connection I have with Frida Kahlo during the fellowship,” she says. From her time in Detroit, to her suffering, her experiences with love. There was even a time when during her time visiting the Ford family. Kahlo demanded to be called “Carmen,” pushing back against her given name which was German.
This summer, Karima was awarded a prestigious art fellowship in France. She has been studying all summer at an artist residency at Chateau Orquevaux in the French countryside. “Nestled in beautiful countryside about an hour north of Dijon (yup, like the mustard) in Champagne region… no, had no time to visit vineyards- but got a lot of “plain air” painting in. I found my dreams,” she said the experience has caused her to look inward. “Her story (Frida’s) just really influenced my own. And I started like, I did one piece already, and will continue as a dialogue between Frida and I love
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Pencil and chalk by the artist. that so much.” “I've always wanted to create and do a body of work around free that haven't really had maybe even the maturity to have the perspective and clarity on what it is I had to say or what it isn't wanted to do.”
Karima said that of all the things she misses about Detroit, it’s mainly the food and “Black culture, soul food, American humor and the easy-going interactions found in the U.S.,” she adds, “Our sense of humor, and the rhythm found in Detroit and the security afforded me in predominantly Black spaces.”
She said that France is still steeped in historical of white supremacy. But, “I don't think America even understands what a healthcare system is. Like the fact that no one can be refused at a hospital here, the fact that healthcare is a right and not approved, which impacts the care you get in the doctor's office.” And that is saying a lot from a breast cancer survivor. “Obamacare saved my life. Planned Parenthood saved my life. These are things that, you know, we still have to fight to protect and have been stripped down to nothing.”
My best friend is thriving on another continent. We try to connect, but even with the time difference when I’m keyed up and want to talk she has been long asleep. Still, there’s something about the French/Detroit connection that given the history of this city that we both love that makes sense to us. So no matter what time it is, when she calls me or I call her, we answer with the universal greeting, “What up doe?”
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