Innovative Curatorial Projects – Paris / SingaporeZoulikha Bouabdellah
*1977, Moscow, Russia. Lives and works in Aubervilliers, France.
Having grown up in Algiers, her family decided to leave Algeria for France in 1993 during the civil war. In 2002 she graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Cergy-Paris and has since been devoting herself to contemporary art. Her work deals with duality and imbalance of cultures, their bicultural fusion and their capacity to transcend borders.
Dansons / Algeria-France / 2003 / 5' / 4:3
Zoulikha Bouabdellah’s brilliantly concise Dansons shows in a single take the midriff of a woman belly-dancing to La Marseillaise. It is a startlingly clear image of the clash of colonialism with indigenous culture. The military relentlessness of the anthem is in deep contrast to the sensuousness of the body wrapped in the colours of the French tricolour.