The «Ombres de mon passé» exhibition by Moroccan-American artist Noureddine El Warari will be held at the Espace Rivages of the Fondation Hassan II pour les Marocains Résidant à l'Etranger from September 12 to 29, 2024. The event, which opens on Thursday, September 12 at 6:30 p.m., will showcase the work of a multidisciplinary photographer, master printer, and lecturer at Santa Monica College. Noureddine El Warari, who has resided in the United States since the 1980s, first in Austin, then in Los Angeles, and currently in Santa Monica, explores a variety of techniques, blending silver and digital printing. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin's Applied Sciences in Photography program in 1985, he worked at CREART Photo Laboratory in Los Angeles for two years, collaborating with industry giants like Universal Studios and Warner Brothers on film and advertising projects. From 1988 to 2003, El Warari pursued his career at Photo Impact, where he gained recognition as a master printer specializing in black and white photography. «When an image is in black and white, it has a soul that describes it! Black and white provokes a language or conversation that touches the spirit. It's a language that's simple and complicated at the same time», says the artist. The «L'Ombre de mon passé» («The Shadow of My Past») exhibition features photographs in this style, reflecting over forty years of the artist's work. «This exhibition is also an intimate story in which the artist pays homage to the neighborhood of his childhood, Derb Assaltane, and the women who live there», according to a Foundation press release. Born in Casablanca, El Warari developed his passion for photography at the age of fourteen, using a plastic Diana camera and frequenting a friend's darkroom as well as local photography studios. Over time, his love for the art led him to pursue his studies in the United States.
