About this exhibition
The WIELS Project Room presents a new series of paintings and a new installation by artist-in-residency Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti.
In her drawings, paintings, installations and sculptures, Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti's (b. 1978, Tanger, MA; lives and works in Amsterdam) reveals a personal vision of our alienated world. History, religion, politics, film, fairy tales, family structures and the media are her most important sources of inspiration, but it's the role of women, from a personal, historical and political viewpoint, that has attracted her attention in recent times. Ahalouch often works by series in which she fuses several stories together and from which new images and stories derive.
With the project "IN FREAKS WE TRUST", Ahalouch prolongs the theme of the circus which she has explored since 2009 and through which she creates a world where abstract circus elements are layered with historical conflicts, often dealing with gender issues. For her last solo exhibition, entitled "The Greatest Show in the World at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, in 2010, she transformed the exhibition space into the abstracted image of a circus. The exhibition was based on Ahalouch's research into the infamous Salon Kitty, a high-class brothel in Berlin which was frequented by prominent Nazis, local eminence and foreign diplomats from the 1930s onwards, its Jewish "madam" Kitty Schmidt being forced to spy for the Nazis.
In this new project, the sexy girls are replaced by freaks. From acrobats to bearded ladies, these performers tell the story of our human condition. Their innocence reveals a world of conflicts. The abstraction of Wafae's work refers to Dada and Bauhaus, two artistic movements which arose from political and social upheavals in the beginning of the 20th century. A century later, Wafae Ahalouch El Keriasti's abstract universe reveals that not much has change
Before her 6-month residency at Wiels, Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti benefited from residencies at the Kunstelhaus Bethanien in Berlin (2010), the Rijksakademie (2006-7) and De Ateliers (2001-3) in Amsterdam. Her solo shows include "The Greatest Show in the World" (Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2010), "Family Affairs" (Galerie sans titre, Brussels, 2009) and "Fighting Temptation" (Jan Cunen Museum, Oss, 2008). Her work has been included in many group exhibitions, such as "MadonnaPshycoSlut" at the Grimmuseum, Berlin (2010), "Le Temps Des Erreurs / Speedy Wash #6" at WIELS, Brussels (2010), "Towing the Line" at the White Box, New York (2009),"Young Artist Biennale", Bucharest (2008), "Actual account is elsewhere" at Siemens Sanat, Istanbul (2008). Her work is included in several public collections such as the MuHKA in Antwerp and the FMAC in Paris