Towards an in-depth evaluation of the artistic practice of Zoulikha Bouabdellah. Conversation and active listening

Abstract

In this discussion, Zoulikha Bouabdellah considers the impact of her childhood on her subsequent development as a visual artist. She recounts her transition to France in the 1990s as a teenager, a process that confronted her with her identity and the Orientalist stereotypes that she was subjected to because of her origins. The artist emphasises that her cultural and personal experiences, shaped by the experience of uprooting, have informed her artistic practice from the outset. They have encouraged her to engage in introspection and, as a result, to create works that are open to multiple interpretations. These works employ a range of media, including drawing, video art and collage. Her work can be seen as an affirmation of freedom, a means of expressing herself through the body in movement. It also serves to highlight her identity as a woman, an artist and a political subject.