(*1988, MA)
Ghariba (Double Bench), 2017-2022
Sculptural viewing installation with outdoor monitor
6180 × 1360 × 1200 cm

Meriem Bennani’s often immersive works bring together, in witty and whimsical ways, questions of fractured identities, gender issues and the ubiquitous dominance of digital technologies. Her sculptural video installation makes it possible both to get a tan and to watch the film Ghariba (a word which means “foreigner” or “strange” in Arabic), which unveils a playful and moving portrait of a few women from the artist’s family in Morocco. Reminiscent of reality TV and family videos, its visual language is both intimate and fanciful, the director’s digital manipulations playfully mediating our relationship to her family members. Bennani’s women talk about love and romance, meeting and friendship, solitude and community, all of them set against the dread of aging.