With Pour Noubia [For Noubia], Marta Herford is showing Mohamed Bourouissa’s first survey exhibition in Germany. The internationally renowned artist was born in Blida, Algeria, in 1978, and lives in Paris. In his visually powerful artworks, he addresses the social effects and consequences of colonialism and migration. His subject is the violence and exclusion that people with immigrant backgrounds experience. Even today, the structures of colonialism produce violence and unjust treatment. Bourouissa clarifies these structures and recurring themes. He produces a poetic visibility that reveals relations of power and injustices, but at the same time conveys tenderness and dignity.
Mohamed Bourouissa draws examples from the stories and experiences of various figures in different places, that open up space for remembrance. Beginning with an AI-generated video installation about his aunt Noubia, who migrated from Algeria to Germany and was active as a sex worker here, he traces her life story through art. The path continues on to the suburbs of Paris, which in the wake of marginalisation reflects problems of a post-migrant present in which experiences of immigration and emigration are omnipresent. Finally, the trail leads back to Algeria, a country still marked by its colonial past and the political and social unrest that followed.
Bourouissa portrays the daily realities faced by individuals who encounter prejudice. He addresses themes such as discrimination and police violence, as well as strategies of resistance and questions of identity and belonging. His visually impressive photographs, films, and sculptures, some of which were created especially for this exhibition, provide a complex picture of the post-migrant European and, ultimately, global present.
Invited curator: Oriane Durand
Artistic Director: Kathleen Rahn (Marta-director)
The exhibition is supported by: Department of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, Trampoline Association.