Acceptance of social fatalism. Hicham Benohoud’s images show the social abyss from which many Moroccans suffer, not in a miserabilist way but rather in a plastic or artistic way
Hicham Benohoud early years in Marrakech, Morocco
Hicham Benohoud was born in Marrakech in 1968. His images, portraits of and from Morocco, have been exhibited in Paris, Brussels, Tokyo, New York, and London. His career began after graduating from high school in visual arts in 1987, when he began teaching in high schools: «My first photographic series, “La salle de classe”, produced from 1994 onwards, was already about Morocco. Most of my subsequent photographic series have also been inspired by the Moroccan society to which I belong. As an artist, I remain sensitive to my social, political and religious environment.
In “La salle de classe”, several questions overlap. Authority, the individual, social condition and so on. It all came naturally to me. We live in a society where history, culture and traditions are so strong, ingrained and binding that they can’t be ignored. From childhood onwards, we are “educated” according to a model that we must imperatively resemble or risk being marginalized. We all have to look the same.
We have to have the same religion, the same values, the same projects, the same tastes, the same dreams, etc. We’re not allowed to “feel” the same way. We don’t have the right “in the legal sense” to go off the beaten track of Moroccan, Arab and Muslim society. When you’re a Moroccan artist, you’re bound to be sensitive to this coercive environment. In my work, I try to look at this society from a distance, if not critically».
A social abyss – Hicham Benohoud
After teaching in schools, he completed his studies at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, France in 2003 and began working as a visual artist: «A case in point is the photographic series “The hole”. The idea is to visit a few inhabitants of the medina in Marrakech, my hometown. I ask them to make holes in their homes, either in the floor, wall or ceiling. After this in-situ intervention, I ask them to pose for me in these holes before photographing them.
Afterwards, I put everything back as it was before leaving as if nothing had happened. These pictures show the social abyss from which many of my fellow citizens suffer, not in a miserabilistic way, but rather in a plastic or artistic way. Metaphorically, they find themselves immobilized in a hole from which they can’t get out, can’t bounce back. They are absorbed by the hole. They have no prospects for the future. They are swallowed up forever».
Hicham Benohoud on young generation perspectives in Morocco
«This was also the case for my former students when I was an art teacher in Marrakech between 1989 and 2002. As soon as I started teaching, I realized how socially and economically trapped my pupils were. They’re at school because it’s compulsory, but they have no prospects for the future because they come from disadvantaged social backgrounds that don’t help them to blossom.
Most of these students end up leaving high school before the baccalaureate, which they don’t manage to obtain. The boys end up working (laborers, farmers, security guards) and the girls end up getting married for the luckiest of them. The situation is terrible, and nothing is being done at the political level to improve or change the fate of these people, who have resigned to social fatalism for several decades. As an artist, I can’t be insensitive to all these dramatic situations which, for want of action, I can only denounce artistically and with the means at hand».
Hicham Benohoud and Morocco: economic progress, human rights regression
Morocco takes a leading position in Africa and has made significant economic progress in recent years through schooling, housing, electrification in rural areas and access to clean water, and the construction of new infrastructure. But on human rights, Morocco has suffered unprecedented regression, with violations of freedom of expression and the press, women’s rights, Lgbtqia+ people’s rights, and Sahrawi prisoners
«One of the main messages I try to convey with my work is that of freedom of expression. In Moroccan society, you’re born a Muslim and “condemned” to remain one for the rest of your life. You’re not allowed to convert to another religion, or to believe in none at all, on pain of imprisonment. Our way of life is already cited in the Koran. We have no freedom of sexual orientation. We have many imperative religious duties like Ramadan. I still don’t understand how anyone can put us in prison for drinking a glass of water during the day in the month of Ramadan».
Hicham Benohoud – Half couple, 2004
It’s totally absurd. We accept everything from Heaven. You can’t question anything. That’s just the way it is. On a political level, there are many red lines that must not be crossed. Moroccan citizens have no choice but to obey the legacy of our ancestors. In my artistic work, I try to break a few taboos, question a few values and several aspects of my culture. As I can’t do it concretely, I do it subtly, metaphorically or with a bit of humor. The individual can do nothing about the system. It’s just a matter of getting around it, without becoming illegal.
There’s a photographic series entitled “Half couple”, produced in 2004, which simply shows me naked. It’s a work that was censored in Morocco and in which I show that my body belongs to me and that I can dispose of it freely, which is not the case in the eyes of my religion.
I come back to the question of the “individual”, which doesn’t exist in Moroccan society. You don’t exist on your own, but through the family, the community and, more broadly, the “Uma”. You’re not allowed to have your own ideas, your own vision of the world, or simply your own sensibility. You can’t be different from the others. That’s kind of what I’m trying to say».
Mediterranean cultural contamination – Hicham Benohoud
His photographs combine elements of reality in unexpected ways, and uncommon situations. Hicham Benohoud’s work is part of prestigious collections such as the Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou, and there are several occasions that have allowed him to meet and culturally contaminate Europe: «Many artistic events took place between Morocco and Europe in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. I myself took part in the Year of Morocco in France in 1999. I did an artist residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris in 2004, and I had taken part in many other events in Spain, Belgium, Holland, the UK, etc. as part of exchanges between Morocco and Europe.
Institut de Monde Arabe, Musée de l’Immigration in Paris and the Reina Sofia in Madrid
There have been far fewer collaborations in recent years, although I have been invited from time to time to Biennales or international exhibitions, such as the next Foto/Industria Biennale scheduled for next autumn in Bologna, or exhibitions at the Institut de Monde Arabe, the Musée de l’Immigration in Paris and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, among others. There’s little going on at the diplomatic level, but Moroccan artists are managing individually to secure artist residencies or exhibit in European galleries.
Despite this timid dynamic, my work is produced, for the most part, in Morocco and speaks exclusively of my society and culture. This “weight” is so heavy that I shall continue to carry it for a very long time.
Even though I lived in France for a few years, my artistic work has never dealt with the issue of immigration, unlike that of many Moroccan artists who have essentially dealt with the question of exile.
I’ve never been sensitive to this issue, because I’m Moroccan and I deal with my country’s problems, whatever the host country. That’s what haunts me the most. Even though I may produce works in Europe such as “30 familles”, I’m simply transposing my artistic universe to another population, which doesn’t change the content or form of my works, apart from a few details».
Hicham Benohoud – Local inspiration, universal themes
For Hicham Benohoud, photography is the tool with which to document his own country and the intertwining of identity politics and power relations: «When I produce work, I don’t think about its visibility. I never know in advance if it’s going to be shown in Morocco or abroad, or if it’s never going to be shown anywhere. I show most of my series on my website, and I have different proposals for exhibitions in different countries. Curators choose series according to their theme or concept. However, it seems to me that even if my work is only about Morocco, it reaches audiences in different countries, since series such as “Ânes situ” have been exhibited in South Korea, Sweden and Cambodia, and “La salle de classe” has been shown in New York, Tokyo and Bamako. I also think that the themes I deal with are universal, such as freedom, religion, confinement, childhood, etc., which perhaps makes it easier to disseminate them on a wide scale».
Contemporary African Art in Morocco and Hicham Benohoud
Contemporary art in Morocco is effervescent, but its social and cultural contribution is often recognized abroad before it is recognized at home and responds to a specific will of the Royal Palace: «Only a few years ago, Morocco was endowed with the 1st Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Thanks to this royal initiative, exhibitions by European artists of all generations, such as Giacometti, Picasso and Niki de Saint-Phalle, are now on show in Morocco for the first time. The museum collaborates with a number of international institutions, staging exhibitions such as the recent one devoted to Morocco, which took place in a museum in Holland.
The same museum facilitates the exhibition of Moroccan artists at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and at the Centre Georges Pompidou. Other private initiatives include the “1:54” Contemporary African Art Fair, held in Marrakech as well as in London and New York, which showcases African artists, including young Moroccan talent. Apart from this, other initiatives remain individual. Artists use new technologies to promote their work and find galleries to represent them, mainly in Europe. But it’s still very complicated for most of them».
Hicham Benohoud
Hicham Benohoud was born in 1968 in Marrakesh, received a diploma in visual arts in 1987, decided to teach at the high school level, and later became a visual artist. Since 1998, Hicham Benohoud’s work has been exhibited internationally, notably in Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Grand Palais, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Palais de Tokyo. He has also exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in London.
