Leila Alaoui
1982 (Paris) / 2016 (Ouagadougou)
Artist's webSite
Artist's gallery
At the age of 33, Leila already has a memorable body of work at the crossroads of documentary and contemporary visual arts. Her first reportage, No pasara, immerses itself in the dreams of young Moroccans who want to come to Europe to build a better life. As she wrote: "These images are a testimony to their realities and illusions, for while the possibility of burning the borders remains uncertain, many end up burning their identity, their past and often their lives." One of her latest works, the video Crossings, conveys the existential ordeal and the desire for survival of sub-Saharan migrants who leave their homeland, most often forced and coerced. In successive shots, shown simultaneously on three screens, Leila "dreamily recreates the migrants' journey from the moment they leave their country until they arrive in Morocco". Her series entitled The Moroccans - produced with a mobile studio set up in Djemaa el-Fna square in Marrakech - shows the diversity of Morocco's popular communities through subjective portraits of great dignity and beauty.
Artist's webSite
Artist's gallery
At the age of 33, Leila already has a memorable body of work at the crossroads of documentary and contemporary visual arts. Her first reportage, No pasara, immerses itself in the dreams of young Moroccans who want to come to Europe to build a better life. As she wrote: "These images are a testimony to their realities and illusions, for while the possibility of burning the borders remains uncertain, many end up burning their identity, their past and often their lives." One of her latest works, the video Crossings, conveys the existential ordeal and the desire for survival of sub-Saharan migrants who leave their homeland, most often forced and coerced. In successive shots, shown simultaneously on three screens, Leila "dreamily recreates the migrants' journey from the moment they leave their country until they arrive in Morocco". Her series entitled The Moroccans - produced with a mobile studio set up in Djemaa el-Fna square in Marrakech - shows the diversity of Morocco's popular communities through subjective portraits of great dignity and beauty.
Artist's exhibitions
1ère Biennale des Photographes du Monde Arabe Contemporain
12/11/2015 - 17/01/2016(Paris) Institut du monde arabe