Open Space #19 Mohammad Alfaraj

Fondation Louis Vuitton

As part of its Open Space programme, the Fondation Louis Vuitton invites Saudi artist Mohammad Alfaraj (1993, Arabie Saoudite) to conceive an in situ work in Galerie 8, on the occasion of his first solo exhibition in a French institution. A multidisciplinary artist, Mohammad Alfaraj lives and works from the oasis of Al Ahsa, where he develops a practice that blends writing, video, photography, drawing and sculpture. Steeped in the oral traditions of Arabie Saoudite, Mohammad Alfaraj draws inspiration from social practices, urban or rural architectures, as well as stories from everyday life, to explore the relationships between humans and nature. His works often take the form of poetic fables that question contemporary ecological, social and cultural issues. The exhibition I'd rather be a dragonfly than a lion brings together a set of previously unseen video works within an installation composed of objects, photographs and drawings. Drawing on the collective imaginaries of his native country, his stop-motion animated videos give shape to poetic stories written and performed by the artist himself. Working with a deliberately economical use of means, Mohammad Alfaraj carries out the entire creative process himself — writing, shaping the characters and sets, filming and animation. Rooted in the cultural context of Al-Ahsa, these stories blend imagination, collective memory and relationship to the living world, finding a universal resonance far beyond their original context.

Source: Paris Open Data ↗