Dalila Dalléas Bouzar

Inspired by the history of Spanish exiles, Dalila Dalléas Bouzar has created a collection of works for Le Nouveau Printemps: embroideries, paintings, and performances.

Embroideries

Guernica, Picasso, 1937. When Dalila Dalléas Bouzar visits Les Abattoirs, Musée - FRAC Occitanie Toulouse, or meets with volunteers at the Toulouse Center for Documentation on Spanish Exile, the great master’s work comes to mind. The image of the painting takes center stage as massacres of populations unfold in various regions of the world. Inspired, the artist travels to the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid with Rossy de Palma to see the work with her own eyes. She then conceives an embroidered blanket, which she creates in India with the support of Villa Swagatam and the cooperation of artisans from the Kalhath Institute. The artist weaves together references and blends techniques. She explores them as much as she brings them into the present. And perhaps, in the face of endless human catastrophe, she reminds us of the strength and beauty of the gestures of craftsmanship?

On view at the Bonnefoy Cultural Center.

Performances

A petite giant wanders through the station district. Drawing on the tradition of masks and costumes, and inspired by the figure of the wanderer, Dalila Dalléas Bouzar, clad in a burnous (a traditional Berber cloak), appears at a street corner. The procession continues with BILLGRABEN, a new artistic partner. In the former stables of the Bonnefoy Cultural Center: an imaginary house made of red earth evokes the fundamental need for a home. But exile also means the impossibility of returning home. In three acts—the hunt, the spiral, the alliance—the duo, composed of the bodies of a woman and a man, brings to life pieces created between Algeria and India (Villa Swagatam and Kalhath Institute).

On view at the Bonnefoy Cultural Center.

Paintings

New paintings complete this ensemble. The artist adorns the bodies with blankets, the first refuge and sole protection for those who move, who are displaced. Objects of dignity and companionship. A recurring motif in the artist’s work, which she continually unfolds.

On view at IPN.

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Dalila Dalléas Bouzar’s exhibition will be echoed in a performance during the festival’s opening weekend.