Biography
Contemporary artist Rachid Koraichi’s work encompasses a range of materials which include ceramics, textiles, bronze, Corten steel, alabaster, print and etching on paper and paint on canvas. His work is influenced by a fascination with signs: symbols, glyphs and ciphers drawn from a variety of languages and cultures. Among other influences, Islamic texts and tenets inspire his works, particularly those of taṣawwuf (Ṣūfīsm in English), is a kind of Islamic mysticism.
His work has been shown at three solo exhibitions at October Gallery, London. In 2011, the gallery collaborated with Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation to present Koraichi’s masterpiece Path of Roses, dedicated to Rumi, in Abu Dhabi. In 2015, he completed work on his largest installation, La Priere des Absents, honouring his parents. In 2019, Casa Arabe, Madrid, hosted the exhibition This Long Journey into your Gaze (with Factum Arte) and Koraichi bought agricultural land in Zarzis, Tunisia, with his daughters, Aicha and Fatma, to create a memorial resting place, Jardin d’Afrique, for migrants of all nationalities and religions who died crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2011, seven of the 99 banners of The Invisible Masters (2010) won the Jameel Prize at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This major installation was first shown in its entirety at Haus der Kunst, Munich in 2010.
His work can be found in major public collections, including the British Museum, London; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, New York; Newark Museum, USA; National Gallery, Amman; Miami Art Museum; Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi; and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.
Koraichi first studied at the Institute of Fine Arts and the Superior National School of the Arts in Algeria, before moving to France to continue his studies at the National School of Decorative Arts and the School of Urban Studies in Paris.
Born in 1947 in Ain Beida, Algeria, he lives and works between Tunisia and France.
SAF participation:
March Meeting 2022