Mohamed Bourouissa Périphérique
La République, Paris, France, 2006.
What I am after is that very fleeting tenth of a second when the tension is at its most extreme. We have all known those imperceptible moments when the tension seems more violent than the confrontation with the other. At that extreme point where anything could happen, or nothing.
Le Reflet, Paris, France, 2007-2008.
Le Miroir, Paris, France, 2006.
La Prise, Paris, France, 2005.
L’Impasse, Paris, France, 2007-2008.
Le Cercle Imaginaire, Paris, France, 2007-2008.
Le Hall, Paris, France, 2007-2008.
Carré Rouge, Paris, France, 2005.
Le Téléphone, Paris, France, 2007-2008.
La Fenêtre, Paris, France, 2005.
Artist's Statement
Mohamed Bourouissa has produced a number of works exploring social reality, working within contemporary urban environments to explore the stereotypes surrounding geographical and social spaces. Périphérique is a series focusing on the territories and issues of the suburbs in France where he grew up.
A burnt out car, a playing field, a cafeteria, a housing project, a concrete slab – all become a theatre that juxtaposes ambiguity, disquiet and a latent, if dormant, violence. Often considered as the violent limits of progressive society, Bourouissa places these suburbs in the field of art, treating them as a visual, conceptual object. His photographs reference historical paintings, thus rendering them deeply connected to art history. He puts subjects in the vernacular of the French Revolution, each scene working to address the reality of prejudices within society. His pictures are staged like cinema shots and are rich with references to painters such as Caravaggio, Delacroix, Géricault and photographers such as Jeff Wall and Philip-Lorca diCorcia.
About the photographer
1978, Blida, Algeria
Algerian / French
Marseille, France
Mohamed Bourouissa after graduating in Visual Arts from the Sorbonne, Paris in 2004 and from the photography department of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, he trained at Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporaines from 2008 to 2010. Mohamed Bourouissa has been developing a fine art photography practice since 2002. He was awarded many prizes for his photographic work, including the Prix Fondation Blachère, Apt (2010), the Aide à la première exposition, Cnap (2008) and the First Prize at Les Rencontres d’Arles, Le Off.
Since 2008, his work has been shown at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (MAMVP) and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki and the Central Farming Correios, Rio de Janeiro. He has taken part in international biennials such as the 6th Berlin Biennial, the Architecture and Photography Biennial of La Cambre, Brussels, the Algiers Biennial of Contemporary Art and the Rencontres de Bamako, Mali. His work is included in many collections including Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki and the Weng Collection.
Power Shortlist
Luc Delahaye, Various works, 2008 – 2011
Robert Adams, Turning Back, 1999-2001
Daniel Beltrá, Spill, 2010
Mohamed Bourouissa, Périphérique, 2005-2008
Philippe Chancel, Fukushima: The Irresistible Power of Nature, 2011
Edmund Clark, Guantanamo: If the Light Goes Out, 2009
Carl De Keyzer, Moments Before the Flood, 2009-2011
Rena Effendi, Still Life in the Zone, 2010
Jacqueline Hassink, Arab Domains, 2005-2006
An-My Lê, 29 Palms, 2003
Joel Sternfeld, When it Changed, 2005
Guy Tillim, Congo Democratic, 1997-2006