Exhibition Sites
Site #4 Malek Gnaoui
This dramatic resemblance plunged the artist into this sea of flesh and blood in search of a dream of a better future carried away by the waves of this great blue... of a life lost in the conquest of a hope that will never come... of a joy so much wished buried by the serenity of nothingness...
This pain carried by hearts and bodies, this torment swallowed up in the depths of the Mediterranean; Malek Gnaoui has brought them to the surface through three artistic installations that are intended to be the voice of those who have never had a voice, dismantle repressive migration policies and expose the true unequal face of the North-South relationship.
Matanza (local term for the tuna fishing technique of trapping the fish in a net of several fishing boats and stabbing it with knives)
This artwork evokes the story of any father who has abandoned his own children, hindered their hopes and left them bereft of their souls. A father who failed to preserve the dignity of his descendants, who could not guarantee them a life worthy of the name, who failed to defend their right to stay, and threw them towards an unknown fate. It is also the other face of a neighbour who claims to be compassionate, but who gives himself all the privileges and forces any way out for his relative.
Matanza is none other than the disappointment of a nation, the grief of a people, and the eternal mourning of humanity.
Naou (local marine term for bad weather)
This artwork takes up the route of several paths taken in search of a new horizon, a better and dignified life. It redraws invisible roads, often without exit on which the hope ended up burying itself and the dream was assassinated.
Naou is the materialisation of the human weight of the double measure of migration policies.