Khadija El Abyad

Biography

In her series ‘Défilé de l’intime’, Khadija El Abyad creates a performance that revolves around the intimacy of the female body in an isolated natural space containing plants, bodies and other objects and shapes. The photographs centre on human hair as a metaphor for the body, which is freighted with taboos and symbols that reflect its physical origin and nature. The performance is an attempt to embody the caricatures and taboos woven into the female form. It appropriates the materiality of hair using it as a material in the scenography, weaving its fibres into braided fabric in meaningful shapes.

Khadija El Abyad is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work revolves around the clichés embedded in personal, cultural, religious and social readings of the body. She uses her own body as the raw material and inspiration for her artistic research and practice.
Her work has been shown in group exhibitions, including 12th edition of Bamako Encounters, African Biennale of Photography, Mali (2020); Déplacer l’horizon, Centre Photographique Marseille, France (2020); PEAU-ECRAN, la Maison Juste and Le Sous-Sol Art Gallery, France (2019) and 31es Instants Vidéo, La Friche Belle de Mai, France (2018). El Abyad completed residencies at the 6th edition of Marrakech Biennale and Trankat Art Residency, Morocco. She holds a diploma from Institute National Des Beaux Arts, Tétouan, Morocco (2017) and an MA from Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M'sik (2019).