Bouzbir and Résistants by Fatima Mazmouz – Photo Exhibit

In Bouzbir, Fatima Mazmouz reappropriates colonial postcards featuring young Moroccan prostitutes in Bousbir, a military district in Casablanca. Exploring how the sexual exploitation of these women was integral to French domination, Mazmouz overlays a digital mosaic of tiny images of vulvas and uteruses. The uteruses symbolize the obscene matrix of colonialism, while the vulvas reflect the articulation of the political and the intimate, at the heart of colonial domination.

Résistants revisits the portraits of some key figures of Morocco’s anticolonial resistance. On these, Mazmouz overlays a grid composed of silhouettes of Super Oum, her superhero alter ego, taking up arms to bring about the Moroccan nation.

Bouzbir and Résistants participate in cementing a “memory body” for the city of Casablanca. By reworking these historical documents and making us hear what they have kept silent, Fatima Mazmouz situates them within a history of photography that is at once local, global and contemporary.

On view April 5 and April 8, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

This exhibit, part of the Festival des Cinq Continents, is made possible with the support of the Center for French Language and Cultures & the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.