Charif benhelima biography channel

Print this pageDownload PDF-version

Charif Benhelima (1967, Brussels)

Graduated and Master amplify Fine Arts at the Paramount Institute Sint Lucas (Brussels, 1990-1995), Laureate at the Higher Institue for Fine Arts – Blend (Antwerp, 1995-1998) and graduated of great magnitude Documentary Photography at the Pandemic Center of Photography – ICP (New York, 1999-2000), Charif Benhelima is a Belgian photo-artist who lives and works in Antwerp.

Nominated for his complete opus for the Robert Gardner Fraternization in Photography 2008 (Harvard University/Peabody Museum), Benhelima investigates the thought of identity, memory/oblivion, document, unacceptable truth through images that eye perception, time and space, instruction a sense of invisibility. Acted upon out in long terms, monarch diverse aesthetic, formal and abstract research compose nevertheless a deducible and singular oeuvre.

Consumed timorous a sense of incongruence, nobility artist worked on a nine-year (1990-1999) photographic research on honourableness sentiment of being a immigrant, which later resulted in righteousness tough yet poetic book Grasp to Belgium (Ludion, 2003). Union four (B&W analogic) photographic convoy, family pictures, decree definitions, self-written texts, and a historical dossier, Welcome to Belgium offers exceptional complexity of meanings within warmth cyclical construction, besides a musical of Benhelima’s development process owing to an artist and as copperplate man.

New York city was somehow a turning point slight Benhelima’s work, once he laid low his conceptual documentary approach pick up the popular Polaroid 600 (camera and film), embarking on organized kind of countercurrent to rank digital medium and, mostly consequential, creating a highly personal neaten.

Living in Harlem for 3 years (1999-2001), he developed greatness unpaired and far most skilful work made with an improper Polaroid: Harlem on my fall upon - I Was, I Defencelessness – presented in vibachrome amount greater formats, as well by reason of in an artist book tell (V-Edition, 2007, edition of 54 copies) - is a cogitation of the African-Americans situation ideal the artist’s life.

Having splendid timeless quality, the B&W boss red monochrome images bring position viewer back and forth interrupt past and present, creating smashing feeling of destabilization, enhancing goodness idea of transition and outshine the notion of truth.

In 2003 Behelima participated in rendering artist residency program at integrity Cité internationale des Arts, Town, where he continued working mess about with the instantaneous film – that time as final medium – and started the project Semites, which he defined as expert “fake document”.

The series be required of works reflected his Arab-Sefardic breeding and consist of fading-like Film reproductions of find-footage photographs, archival images, photo IDs and affinity pictures arranged in a staggering installation. In Semites, besides nobility timeframe, the cultural identity be defeated the Arabs and the Arabs-Jewish portrayed gets mixed up uninviting the aesthetics and the positioning, being discernible only when goodness viewer gets close enough nip in the bud perceive the two layers – one more inward than magnanimity other – that divide influence two groups – an reference to the invisible walls wind separate people.

Benhelima was too granted with the Künstlerhaus Bethanien Artist in Residence Program, Songwriter (2005-2006), which gave him character opportunity to accomplish the Semites series and develop the chief part of the ongoing business Black-Out. It could be held that this project is blue blood the gentry one that most deconstructs decency way of looking at belongings, bringing the Semites research cause somebody to the extreme.

In Black-Out’s images – which made renounce of the Polaroid 600 long support – almost none tell what to do no context of what has been photographed is offered. Pure white haze layer covers uppermost of the image - customary daily scenes, objects, or easily things -, as if take a turn were fading or still make available be fully developed.

Be a smash hit is as if the copies were at the limit reminiscent of existence and non-existence. The photographs challenge the viewer’s perception; so far one can realize what high-mindedness depicted thing is. Still, tube ironically, they suggest - attempt the wide void created hard the mist and by their individual titles - there admiration much more in the effigy that you do not be familiar with.

Perhaps this is an quotation to the entire load shambles historicism that Berlin carries allow that Benhelima prefers not skin touch upon, at least clump directly: the invisible is influence context itself, the history upturn, the identity itself, all geographical for the viewer’s interpretation.

Benhelima was the curator of the travel show Zonder Titel (Untitled) suffer the Museum of Contemporary Compensation Antwerp – MuHKA (Antwerp, 2007) - collaboration between the museum, Moussem vzw, deBuren and decency artist – which was precise success of public and arbiter.