Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated
13.03.2024 — 30.06.2024
From March 2024, the poignant and exuberant works of Moroccan-born artist Soufiane Ababri transform the Barbican's Curve gallery for his first solo exhibition at a major UK institution. Living and working between Paris, France, and Tangier, Morocco, Ababri's interdisciplinary practice encompasses drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance. His work cites sources from sociology, philosophy, and the canon of western gay subculture, and is often inspired by real and fictitious encounters with other men.
Ababri's commission connects the crescent shape of The Curve gallery to the curling form of the Arabic letter Zayin (ز). This is the first letter of the word 'Zamel', a derogatory term for gay men deriving from 'Zamil', meaning close or intimate friend. In the Maghreb, the buzzing of this consonant is used insidiously, insinuating the slur without explicitly voicing it. Ababri takes the transformation of Zamil into Zamel as his starting point to investigate the ways in which language has been coded and weaponised. In doing so, he reveals how homophobia continues to threaten not only same-sex sexuality but undermines the possibility of intimate, non-heteronormative relationships based on radical forms of friendship.
Inspired by a thirteenth-century illustration by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti that depicts a tender moment between two men holding hands and looking into each other's eyes, through this commission Ababri is engaging in art historical activism. Drawing from western and non-western queer experience, his work challenges traditional representations of intimacy and sexuality. In their place, he forges an alternative canon, reversing the historic marginality of non-heterosexual relations.
A site-specific performance responding to the shape of The Curve will address the power architecture can hold over our bodies and its ability to influence our behaviour. Ababri references the history of clubs as sites of resistance for the queer community and explores the role of dance and music as tools for personal and collective emancipation.
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS
February 21, 2019
