Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Siham Jadraoui
Published on 2024-03-07 11:09:45
The Franco-Moroccan artist Randa Maroufi unveils a traveling exhibition on gender equality in public space at the Institute of Islamic Cultures (ICI) in Paris. She invites women to adopt the same postures and gestures as men who are typically present in these places.
Her research falls between journalism, cinema, and sociological studies. She explores issues related to transition, surveillance, awakening, and emancipation. This is the Franco-Moroccan artist Randa Maroufi. This time, she presents a traveling exhibition on gender equality in public space at the Institute of Islamic Cultures (ICI). She presents a photographic series entitled “The Intruders,” showing daily scenes in the streets, squares, and shops.
It must be said that the artist creates fictions from concrete situations. For this series, she met people living and frequenting the Barbès-Rochechouart district in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. For a staged moment, she invites women to adopt the same postures, the same gestures as the men normally present in these places. They play chess, work, meet, wait, observe.
Through this inversion, Randa Maroufi highlights the gender inequalities that exist in the occupation of public space, movement in the city, and the use of leisure and sports infrastructure. By naming this project “The Intruders,” she raises awareness about archetypal representations. “This project primarily questions the sharing of common space between genders. Beyond denunciation, it is an act where perceptions shift, public space is recomposed to reintroduce the question of diversity,” explains the artist.
Indeed, the Barbès section of the series was produced by the ICI with the support of the Emerige endowment fund, as part of the Beautify Paris project initiated by the city of Paris. From summer 2019 to winter 2021, 22 photographs were presented in large format under the elevated metro and on the surrounding facades, between the Barbès-Rochechouart and La Chapelle stations. For this traveling version, the urban context of the five photographs selected by the artist is emphasized with materials and supports borrowed from the world of construction, also evoking a social construction site still in progress. They contrast with the curtains that play with the notions of interior and exterior.
About the artist
Career Born in 1987 in Casablanca, Randa Maroufi lives and works in Paris. She graduated from the National Institute of Fine Arts in Tétouan (2010), the Higher School of Fine Arts in Angers, France (2013), and the Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts, Tourcoing, France (2015). She was an artist member of the Academy of France in Madrid – Casa de Velázquez in 2017-2018. The artist is interested in staging bodies in public or intimate spaces. A often political approach, which claims ambiguity to question the status of images and the limits of representation. She has presented numerous exhibitions around the world, including at the Sharjah Art Foundation (United Arab Emirates), MA Museum (Quebec), Dakar Biennale (Senegal), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Boghossian Foundation (Brussels), Sharjah Biennale, Pompidou Center (Paris). Likewise, she has exhibited at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Netherlands), the Rencontres de la photographie, Bamako, Mali, the Marrakech Biennale, etc. The artist has received several awards for her films “Le Park” and “Bab Sebta.”
Read the original article(French) on Aujourdhui.ma
