Mourad Fedouache
born in 2000
Mourad Fedouache and his photographic project, From Douar Shanty to New York, is about dreams. It’s about a kid from the shantytowns on the outskirts of Kenitra — and more particularly from Sidi Yahya El Gharb — who dreams of faraway places and sets out to conquer the world. For Mourad, it is not really about any physical point of geography,as travel beyond borders involves a thousand administrative, financial and border challenges. It is rather a geography of dreams, far more accessible. “I will keep dreaming, as long as dreams are free”, as he likes to say. And Mourad brings his entire community along on this journey, as he invites us into a total immersion in the douar (shantytown). His work casts an intimate, even introspective focus, revealing bits of personal stories; there are no miserable stereotypes here, nor indecent voyeurism. Mourad sees his neighbors— his people — through a lens of empathy. His “human landscapes” invite us to share the daily lives of a community that is strong, yet fragile. Mourad beckons us to enter his home, sharing family celebrations, religious rituals, joys and sorrows. He leaves the door ajar, offering glimpses of this most intimate world, capturing moments with a powerful and generous esthetic. Here, daily life is forged by solidarity, tender gestures, and open camaraderie, all steeped in dignity. This is simply what Mourad Fedouache does: transcribe the intensity of moments through a gesture or a glance, always placing human figures and faces at the heart of his work. He doesn’t hesitate to portray the very difficult living conditions in his douar, but the stories are told from the innocent perspective of laughing children.
His gaze dances across the individuals who shape his world, suggesting a gentle touch rather than the angry blows one might expect from a 23-year-old artist. Instead, Mourad uses his camera as if it were a paintbrush, playing with a chromatic palette that juxtaposes golden yellows, deep blues or orange-reds, rendered sublime by incident light depicting every detail of his “human scenes” with joyous clarity. There is an almost solar quality in the faces of the children who inhabit Mourad’s delicate portraits, revealing optimism in its most contagious form. Mourad Fedouache’s images are as carefully composed as they are activistic. At first glance his work is charming, but then the impact becomes clear, questioning, at times even disturbing in its unfiltered depiction of reality. As he photographs ordinary moments, he puts a mirror up to harsh reality, chronicling lives stripped bare and unadorned, creating awareness, arousing our emotional response. With humanism, humility,and finesse, Mourad Fedouache tells us the everyday life of a community, so close yet so far from our own. From Douar Shanty to New York is a tender and beautiful celebratory dance, a magnificent snub and a gut punch to the dubious clichés and preconceptions that weigh upon us.
Amine Boushaba, February 2023
