exhibition

SOUFFLE
Analogue Breathing

Yasmine Belhassen, Walid Ben Ghezala, Souheila Ghorbel

17/02 – ~~16/03/2022~~ extended until 21/05/2022

curated by Christine Bruckbauer and Patricia K. Triki

Opening: Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 6–8 pm

Artist Talk: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 6–8 pm

SALAM ORIENT Kick-Off with Artist Talk and DJ-Set by madameghorbelle: Monday, March 21, 2022, 6-9 pm

Venue: philomena+ project room, Heinestraße 40, 1020 Vienna

Opening hours: Wed-Fri 3-7 pm, Sat 3-6 pm

Yasmine Belhassen, Sōth, 2016, analogue photography © the artist

The unpredictable, the uncontrollable, is what brought Yasmine Belhassen (*1988, Tunis), Walid Ben Ghezala (*1991, Tunis) and Souheila Ghorbel (*1992, Tunis) to analogue photography — it’s the imperfection with which they rebel against the easily optimised world of digital images.

Between the moment the shutter is released and the result is obtained, there’s a window of time that brings with it a deceleration, that gives you time to ‘catch your breath’ (souffle means “breath” in French). Discarded cameras and expired film material are used for experimentation. The ‘random’ images embrace the mishap and bear witness to a form that should be style-free, but at the same time suggests the style of spontaneous amateur photography. The discolouration of reality and the intentional imperfectionism sometimes have a destabilising and disconcerting effect.

Thematically, the photographic works are located somewhere between anger, rebellion and poetry, introspection as well as ideal fiction, reacting to the harsh reality they feel confronted with, which is often characterised by economic difficulties and a lack of perspective.

Souheila Ghorbel‘s contribution to the exhibition presents her circle of friends, exuberant undertakings of young adults who look cheerfully and amusingly into the camera. Yasmine Belhassen‘s sensitive eye captures poetic situations in the surrounding landscape on celluloid. Her experimental use of the technique, in addition to the unusual way she plays with colour, creates a harmonious fusion of different images. Walid Ben Ghezala’s intimate installation “Chambre(s) Noire(s)” presents photographic attempts to understand the body as a pivot to the world.

The text “Decontractions of the Gaze” by Adnen Jdey (researcher at Tunis University) accompanies the exhibition.

Read an excerpt: Adnen_Jdey_Decontractions_of_the_gaze

Curator residency: Patricia K.Triki 06/02 – 06/03/2022

Artist residencies: Walid Ben Ghezala 03/03 – 17/03/2022, Yasmine Belhassen and Souheila Ghorbel 04/03 – 22/03/2022

Photo workshops with the artists, the Youth Centre Alte Trafik Volkertplatz and the Hernalser Gymnasium Geblergasse accompany the exhibition project.

artists

YASMINE BELHASSEN (*1988 in Tunis, lives and works in Athens)

After graduating in language studies it is through analogue photography that she develops a growing interest for images. Her sensitive eye captures poetic situations in the surrounding landscape on celluloid. Her experimental use of the technique, in addition to the unusual way she plays with colour, creates a harmonious fusion of different images.

WALID BEN GHEZALA (*1991 in Tunis, lives and works in Tunis)

After studying film, he obtained an applied degree in film editing at the École Supérieure d’Architecture, d’Audiovisuel et de Design in Tunis. Parallel to his work as a photo and video artist, he is a writer of prose texts. In December 2019, he presented his first solo, “Chambre(s) Noire(s)” at La Boîte in Tunis.

SOUHEILA GHORBEL (*1992 in Tunis, lives and works in Tunis)

When she was growing up, Souheila Ghorbel had many varied career ambitions. She earned a degree in civil engineering but eventually her path led to the arts, culture and heritage sector via working for cultural organisations.
Her vivid photographic works explore her position within the world she lives in. They speak of the artist’s desire to explore nostalgia and a longing to be, do and see things as she did in the past; in other words, to capture a reality that no longer exists, but may once have existed. A curious feeling of melancholy for an era, a person, a color or a smell arises – but one that is tinged with a fleeting pleasure.

PATRICIA K.TRIKI (*1964 in Paris, lives and works in Tunis)

was born to a Tunisian father and a French mother in Paris. She spent her childhood in France. Since 1998 she lives and works as visual artist in Tunis. She is one of the first photography artists from Tunisia with an international career. In the last decade, she has mainly acted as a promoter of young artists in Tunisia. She was co-curator of the exhibitions Rosige Zukunft – Aktuelle Kunst aus Tunesien, at ifa Gallery in Berlin and The Turn المنعرج – Art Practices in Post-Spring Societies at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich in Vienna. 2017–2021 She worked as art director of La Boîte, an art space for contemporary art in Tunis, she is also art consultant for the Groupe Kilani Art Patronage Program.