Tarek Lakhrissi is a French-Arabic artist and poet with a background in literature. Working across installation, performance, film, text and sculpture, Lakhrissi engages political and social issues around narratives of identity and language, such as racism, homophobia and love.
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His background in literature draws influence from feminist and queer writers, such as Elsa Dorlin, Jean Genet, Monique Wittig and José Esteban Muñoz, providing his work with a romantic atmosphere. Each project Lakhrissi initiates derives from text, poetry and language, which are his primary obsessions, before translating ideas from these mediums into the visual arts. His profound use of language engages with performativity and reflects on poetic, erotic and nostalgic queer futures.
Lakhrissi is interested in modes of defence which is portrayed within his sculptural works. His work questions how to defend oneself, particularly individuals or groups who are marginalised and persecuted, in order to maintain ones identity and reflect on a desire to stay alive and be unapologetic. Throughout his work, he maintains his own identity by involving signifiers of pop culture; a soundtrack to a 90’s TV show or a small aesthetic gesture towards ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’.
Identity feeds into his work in film where apocalyptic narratives around freedom and being liberated are played out. As described by Curator Shelley McSpedden, his recent film ‘Out of the Blue’ (2019) is set in “a radical moment in time, when established political, economic and cultural structures are under imminent threat from alien invasion. Rather than presenting this as an apocalyptic vision, Lakhrissi’s film meditates on the nature of transition itself.”
Tarek Lakhrissi (b. 1992, Châtellerault, FR) is based between Paris, FR and Brussels, BE. He holds a degree in literature from Paris III Sorbonne-Nouvelle, FR and an MA in History of Art from the University of Montreal, CA. He has been nominated for the Matsutani Occident 2019 Prize and the PSC Art Prize.
Lakhrissi has had international solo presentations at museums and galleries including: Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, IT; Zabriskie, Genève, CH; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Noisy-Le-Sec, FR.
Further group exhibitions at galleries, museums and biennials internationally include: NIRIN 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, AU; Baltic Triennial 13, Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV & CAC, Vilnius, LT; FIAC, Grand Palais, Paris, FR; CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, FR; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, FR; Maison Populaire, Montreuil, FR; Musée D’Art Contemporain, Haute-Vienna, FR; Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, FR; Auto Italia South East, London, UK; Fondation Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, FR; L’Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, CH; Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, IT.
Residencies include: Maison Populaire, Montreuil, FR (2020-21); Wiels, Brussels, BE (2020); Workspace, Brussels, BE (2020&19); Sophiensaele, Berlin, DE (2020); CND, Pantin, FR (2020); Bundanon Trust, Illaroo, AU (2019); Artspace, Sydney, AU (2019); Kunstencentrum Buda, Courtrai (BE).
Lakhrissi is currently exhibiting in ‘Antibodies’ at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR and in ‘Risquons-Tout’ at Wiels, Brussels, BE (both until March 2021). Forthcoming exhibitions include a solo show at VITRINE, London, UK (April 2021) and a solo show at MOYSTN, Llandudno, UK (May 2021). He has been shortlisted for the 22nd Foundation Pernod Ricard Prize 2021.