Leila Alaoui: Rite of Passage
New Virtual Tour guided by writer and curator, Ekow Eshun
Somerset House, London - Online
Through 28 February 2021
Responding to the restrictions of England’s second lockdown, Somerset House invites audiences to join the virtual tour of its new exhibition Leila Alaoui: Rite of Passage, guided by award-winning broadcaster and cultural commentator Ekow Eshun. Forming the first major UK retrospective of works from the celebrated French-Moroccan photographer, video artist and activist Leila Alaoui, the exhibition opened (11 October 2020) to coincide with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in October. For those who missed it in its opening weeks, the virtual tour offers the opportunity to still discover Leila Alaoui’s timely and moving work, and gain insight into the evolution of her practice.
Acclaimed for capturing and preserving the unseen stories of individuals and communities displaced by conflict and unrest, Rite of Passage offers an intimate portrait into the rich cultural identities and resilience of societies facing difficult and uncertain realities. The subjects of Leila Alaoui’s works are pictured across the contemporary Mediterranean landscape and beyond, from Syrian refugees fleeing civil war in Lebanon to young North Africans seeking an alternative future in Europe. Tragically, Leila Alaoui was killed whilst working on a photography project for a women’s rights campaign for Amnesty International in Burkina Faso in 2016. She was critically wounded during a terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, passing away from her injuries shortly afterwards at the age of 33. The Leila Alaoui Foundation was created to preserve her work, defend her values, and inspire and support artistic engagement.
Rite of Passage showcases three of Leila Alaoui’s defining series of photographic works created between 2008 and 2014 - Les Marocains (2010-14), No Pasara (2008) and Natreen (2013). Throughout each series, Leila Alaoui seeks to challenge the often cliched portrayals and exoticisation of North Africa and the Arab world to present a nuanced narrative of the region, its inhabitants and immigration. The exhibition also presents Leila Alaoui’s final unfinished video work L’Île du Diable (Devil’s Island) (2015), which explores the lives of a 1960’s generation of dispossessed migrant workers in France. Showing great sensitivity towards her subjects, Leila Alaoui’s images are both informed yet artistic, giving a human face to the people who often become lost and misrepresented behind waves of news coverage and statistics.
LEILA ALAOUI
Tamesloht, from the series Les Marocains, 2011
Image courtesy of Foundation Leila Alaoui & GALLERIA CONTINUA
Leila Alaoui’s celebrated series Les Marocains is a striking series of life-sized portraits. Taken during the artist’s extensive travels across her home country of Morocco, Leila Alaoui drew inspiration from influential 20th century photographers Richard Avedon and Robert Frank, whose seminal works captured the overlooked margins of American life, as well as her own heritage as a native Moroccan, to create a collection of portraits which capture a rich survey of the diverse cultures and ethnicities of the region. Using a mobile studio, Leila Alaoui invited men, women, and children of different communities within busy cities and secluded settlements, with whom she spent time getting to know, as her sitters. Framed against a simple black background, Leila Alaoui captures the innate pride and dignity of her subjects, allowing both the presence of her subjects and the vibrant aesthetic of their traditional dress, adorned with products of a rich artistic culture, to shine. With each portrait, Leila Alaoui creates new transcultural and inclusive social imagery in an attempt to undo the historically misunderstood representation of the region and its communities.
LEILA ALAOUI
No Pasara, 2008
Image courtesy of Foundation Leila Alaoui & GALLERIA CONTINUA
No Pasara (Entry Denied) is Leila Alaoui’s first photographic series created in 2008. The series, commissioned by the European Union, sees Leila Alaoui use her camera to document the often-unseen perspectives of those living on the challenging margins of society. The series follows groups of young Moroccans who have become stuck in their journeys, seeking passage to Europe from Moroccan port cities including Nador and Tangier. After spending time getting to know her subjects, hearing stories of the homes, and the lives and relationships sacrificed in the hope of finding a better life on the other side of the Mediterranean, Leila Alaoui brings the realities and voices of those whose lives have been halted into focus of the frame. Here in black and white, young men are pictured waiting pensively at the waterfront and amongst the ruins of buildings, dreaming of starting a new life across the barrier of the sea.
LEILA ALAOUI
Natreen, 2013
Image courtesy of Foundation Leila Alaoui & GALLERIA CONTINUA
Echoing the stories of the lives on hold in No Pasara, the 2013 series Natreen (We Wait), commissioned by the Danish Refugee Council, sees Alaoui travel to Lebanon to document and raise awareness for the humanitarian crisis faced by Syrian refugees fleeing chaos and war. Acting further to dispel the stereotypical representations of refugees as shown within modern day media, Leila Alaoui captures the strength, beauty and relatability of her subjects, with each subject holding the viewers gaze to create an instant connection.
Rite of Passage culminates in Leila Alaoui’s final unfinished project, L’Île du Diable (Devil’s Island). In this single-channel video work, which sees Alaoui moving away from photography to experiment with video and installation, Leila Alaoui explores the experience of a generation of migrant workers who moved to support the huge growth in industry in Europe following World War II. Bringing together photographs, recorded videos, sounds, and testimonies, Leila Alaoui showcases the stories of those who became collectively displaced from their homes whilst working for an automobile factory in France, and its impact on future generations.
In a time where access to cultural institutions and events returns to virtual spaces, Ekow Eshun’s tour through Rite of Passage encourages viewers to consider those who so often become lost and misrepresented behind waves of news coverage and statistics. Encountering Leila Alaoui’s life-size portraits from their own homes, viewers come face-to-face with the people she met, creating a powerful sense of intimacy.
Audiences can also enjoy a special online talk between Ekow Eshun and acclaimed photographer Hassan Hajaj, as they reflect on Rite of Passage and the great sensitivity Leila Alaoui applied to her practice.
Leila Alaoui: Rite of Passage will reopen in Somerset House’s Terrace Rooms as soon as government guidance permits.
Rite of Passage is the latest exhibition in the Charles Russell Speechlys Terrace Room Series, an ongoing partnership with the leading law firm to present a wide range of free exhibitions reflecting the broad interests of both organisations.
SOMERSET HOUSE
Strand, London WC2R 1LA
