Large paintings by late photographer Leila Alaoui are on display as part of the Social and Environmental Biennial of Photography in Paris. Her works are presented alongside thirty committed international artists as well as major actors of the ecological movement in France.
Leila Alaoui, through video and photographic art, explores the construction of identity and migration in the Mediterranean space. She uses photography and video to express various social realities through a visual language that lies on the border between documentary and visual arts. Her work also includes a strong humanitarian commitment with photographic mandates for recognised NGOs such as the Danish Refugee Council, Search for Common Ground and UNHCR.
The series presented in the exhibition are the following:
- "The Moroccans", a series of portraits which constitutes a visual archive of Moroccan traditions and aesthetic universes which tend to disappear under the effects of globalization.
- "No Pasara", a project which captures the lives of young Moroccans who dream of a better future on the other side of the Mediterranean. The images bear witness to their realities as well as their illusions. In their attempts to burn the border, many end up burning their identity, their past and sometimes their lives. This project was commissioned by the European Union in 2008.
- It was followed by the series "Crossings", which explores the experience of sub-Saharan migrants who embark on a perilous journey to reach the elusive shores of Europe. The series focuses on the collective trauma caused by the experience of crossing borders and becoming a fragile community in a new habitat. While exploring the textures of psychological and physical transition, the installation also looks at the concept of Europe as a problematic utopia in the African imagination.
Photo: copyrights Women of Morocco.