The Second Biennial of Photography in the Contemporary Arab World

The second edition is focusing on two countries in the Maghrib: Tunisia and Algeria.

The Biennial of Photography in the Contemporary Arab World will be held simultaneously in eight Parisian venues: the AWI (IMA), the MEP, the Cité Internationale des Arts, the Mairie of the fourth arrondissement, the Galerie Thierry Marlat, the Galerie Photo 12, the Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, and the Galerie Binome, creating a diverse itinerary through various contemporary photographers’ perceptions of the Arab world.

Each exhibition venue will present works by photographers from the Arab world who are either living in their native country or working abroad, and works by foreign photographers—who are mostly European—, which also bear witness to the contemporary situation in the Arab countries. The Biennial is all about cultural diversity and bringing together diverse viewpoints.

More selective than the first edition, the 2017 Biennale has decided to focus on two countries in the Maghrib: Tunisia and Algeria.

A tribute will also be paid to Leila Alaoui, who, very sadly, passed away while her portraits of Moroccans were being exhibited in the first Biennial (2015).

Each venue will have its own specific programme

• At the Arab World Institute, there will be a collective exhibition organised by Olfa Feki, an independent exhibition curator based in Tunisia. He has trained his expert eye on the work of several Tunisian photographers and works by little-known talented photographers from Arab countries. The exhibition will combine various conceptual, plastic, and poetic approaches, and documentary works.
• At the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, there will be a presentation of photographs on various themes and in different styles by Hicham Benohoud, Farida Hamak, and Xenia Nikolskaya, taken in Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco respectively.
• At the Cité Internationale des Arts, there will be an overview of emerging Algerian photography, bringing together twenty photographers in an exhibition curated by Bruno Boudjelal, and organised by the Ville de Paris, the Agence Algérienne Pour le Rayonnement Culturel (AARC), and the Institut Français in Algiers.
• At the Mairie of the fourth arrondissement, works by the photojournalist Michel Slomka will provide an insight into the plight of the Yazīdī community, which has been the victim of Islamic State jihadists in Iraq.
• In the participating galleries, there will be a presentation of photographs by Mustapha Azeroual and Sara Naim (Binome), Daniel Aron (Photo 12), Marco Barbon (Clémentine de la Féronnière), and Randa Mirza and Zad Moultaka (Thierry Marlat).

• For further information consult the Biennial site: biennalephotomondearabe.com .

With the support of :

 pour le vernissage de l'exposition. 

Media partners of the exhibition : 

Find out more