MASHALLAH MASHALLAH MASHALLAH | SOUKAINA ABROUR

Soukaina Abrour (Morocco, 1997) is an artist deeply connected to her multicultural origins.
Her practice investigates the construction of identity, within the complexity of human facets, through fabulation, which is the production of thought that materializes into more or less coherent discourses and imaginations. But also, the faculty to create myths and fantastic depictions or, to simplify, the ability to invent stories, even rich in details.

That of Abrour is an obsessive quest in attempting to confront her own diasporic and fragmented identity. In this research, the Google photo application assumes the function of an archive, a personal catalog from which the artist draws to find memories and comfort, ‘scrolling’ through the smartphone screen.
It’s the consequences of growing up in a context strongly influenced by the difference, sometimes contrasting, between the domestic dimension, that of a large Muslim family, and the bourgeois and Catholic environment of the small town in Northern Italy where the artist spent her childhood and adolescence.

The title of Abrour’s latest work is a Moroccan expression of joy and gratitude: MASHALLAH MASHALLAH MASHALLAH (2023) is an immersive, complex, and articulate installation, where different elements contribute to the overall enjoyment and presentation. At the center of the exhibition space are placed some cushions, positioned there to create a gathering environment. On the sides of the floor, there are two purple neon lamps – the only light source in the room – wrapped in ribbons, chains, and fake hair strands. Finally, on the back wall, supported by countless thin chains, hangs a PVC sheet on which four female figures appear, an image taken from the artist’s smartphone photo archive.

Abrour has stated that she considers the face as a vector of information, but these four women are faceless: instead, they have only outlines, an empty, white space in place of somatic and identity features. This absence draws attention to a communication that is not exercised through eyes, mouth… facial expressions, but from the composure and pride of posture.
These women become for Abrour a beacon of light – just as emphasized by the clear halo digitally applied in post-production – creatures that carry with them a deep sense of rebirth and hope and that make the artist exclaim: MASHALLAH MASHALLAH MASHALLAH.

Soukaina Abrour
MASHALLAH MASHALLAH MASHALLAH, 2023
PVC sheet, chains, neon lights, fabric, fake hair, ribbon, 200×300 cm
Installation view at ALMANAC INN, February 24 – March 24, 2024
Courtesy the artists and ALMANAC INN, Turin, photos by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano ©

27/03/24