Studio Grant holder in Stockholm 16 November 2021 – 28 February 2022

Sara Ouhaddou is an artist living and working between Morocco and France. She’s born in France in a traditional Moroccan family and this dual culture informs her practice as a continuous dialogue. She strikes a balance between traditional Moroccan art forms and the conventions of contemporary art, aiming to place artistic creation’s forgotten cultural continuities into new perspectives. She works in situ, producing works based on encounters with communities, craftsmen and researchers, while exploring heritage sites and objects. Each of her works is a project of learning, exchange of knowledge and intimate or universal stories.

Photo: Sara Ouhaddou

During her IASPIS residency she will continue working on and expanding on the project Une conversation banale wich has focused on the similarities between remote territories and communities of Morocco and Japan. She has been looking at the prehistoric pottery found in the Atlas region where the Amazigh (the name that the Berbers give to themselves) call home, the patterns in traditional Berber textiles and other crafts, and the patterns of Aomori’s kogin-zashi and Jomon pottery. She envisages the idea that these two regions that have never met, according to official history, will somehow cross paths. Their common heritage goes beyond the travels of humans or known objects. In this multi faceted project Sara will now expand this inquiry to include native population of Northern Europe and in particular the Sami.

Sara Ouhaddou studied at the École Olivier De Serres Paris. She has participated in the exhibition : Moroccan Trilogy (2021), Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Global resistance (2020), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, Manifesta Biennial, Trait-Union, Marseille (2020), Our World is burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020) Islamic Art festival, Sharjah (2017-2018) Crafts Becomes Modern, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Germany (2017); Marrakech Biennale, Morocco, (2016) and also held an exhibition of her work at the Moulin d’Art Contemporain Toulon, France (2015); Gaite Lyrique Tanger-Tanger, Paris (2014); and Marrakech French Institute (2014). She is represented by the Polaris gallery, Paris.