Fotokino

For the past ten years or so, Yto Barrada’s work has been questioning the social and political context of Morocco, exploring the different layers of the territory - particularly that of Tangier, the cornerstone of a reflection with multiple ramifications—that can be found in A Modest Proposal, a set of posters which sum up her artistic approach and function as the entrance gate to the exhibition. Enriched over time, A Modest Proposal forms an endless inventory which sets out the themes dear to the artist: urban development, social conventions, the legacy of the past, childhood. The same is true of her movie Hand-Me-Downs (screened in our Les Sentiers program), a tangle of family myths and collective memory.

The topic of childhood is a fertile one, as the title of the exhibition indicates: with this “Courte échelle” (to give someone a leg up), Yto Barrada impertinently invites the spectator to climb over the fence and play hooky, to hide in a tree house. In her pictures, she focuses on the small things of everyday life, the in-betweens, where reality can slide into a daydream. A short metaphorical ladder which brings to mind the acrobats of Tangier—who build up human pyramids—and on another level, the question of transmission, visible in the artist’s growing interest in learning and educational issues.