Yto Barrada

Barrada was born in Paris, France in 1971. Her family moved to Tangier, Morocco when she was a young girl, and Barrada claims Tangier as her hometown.{{cite web |title=English Bio |url=http://www.ytobarrada.com/index.php/bio/bio/ |website=ytobarrada.com |access-date=3 October 2019}} Her father Hamid Barrada, former political opponent of Hassan II and leader of the student left, is a journalist and her mother, Mounira Bouzid El Alami, activist and psychotherapist.{{Cite journal|last=Toussaint|first=Évelyne|year=2013|title=Yto Barrada : figures de résistance à la domestication de l'espace|url=http://journals.openedition.org/itineraires/949|journal=Itinéraires. Littérature, Textes, Cultures|language=fr|issue=2012–3|pages=57–67|doi=10.4000/itineraires.949|issn=2100-1340|doi-access=free}}{{Cite news|title=Mounira Bouzid El Alami, de la psychanalyse à l'associatif tangérois (PORTRAIT)|date=2016-03-07|work=Al HuffPost Maghreb|language=fr}} After living in Tangier for much of her life, Barrada returned to Paris to study at The University of Paris, also known as the Sorbonne, where she studied History and Political Science.{{cite journal |last1=Crawley Jackson |first1=Amanda |title="Cette poétique du politique": Political and Representational Ecologies in the Work of Yto Barrada |journal=L'Esprit Créateur |date=Spring 2011 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=53–67 |doi=10.1353/esp.2011.0007 |s2cid=145244030 }} Shortly after graduating, Barrada studied at the International Center of Photography in New York, New York.{{cite web |last1=O'Donnell Hulme |first1=Mary |title=Yto Barrada |url=https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/yto-barrada?all/all/all/all/0 |website=International Center of Photography |date=2 March 2016 |access-date=4 October 2019}}

Now married to American film director, writer, actor, and producer Sean Gullette, Barrada splits her time between New York and Morocco.{{cite magazine |last1=Rubin |first1=Elizabeth |title=Castle in the Sky |url=http://www.ytobarrada.com/files/June%202014%20Vogue.pdf |access-date=5 October 2019 |magazine=Vogue |date=June 2014}}

Barrada befriended Bettina Grossman, a reclusive artist who was a longtime resident at Hotel Chelsea. Barrada and Grossman collaborated on an exhibition called The Power of Two Suns, which was on view at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Arts Center at Governors Island in 2019.{{Cite web|last=Garg|first=Sukanya|date=2019-11-30|title=Yto Barrada and Bettina explored responses to disaster for exhibition in New York|url=https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-yto-barrada-and-bettina-explored-responses-to-disaster-for-exhibition-in-new-york|access-date=2021-11-16|website=Stir World|language=English}} Barrada is working on a catalogue raisonné of Grossman's work.{{Cite news|last=Kilgannon|first=Corey|date=2021-11-13|title=Bettina Grossman, an Artistic Fixture at the Chelsea Hotel, Dies at 94|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/nyregion/bettina-grossman-dead.html|access-date=2021-11-16|issn=0362-4331}}

Barrada's first photographic series, A Life Full of Holes: The Strait Project, was a collaborative project that took place between 1999 and 2003.{{cite magazine |last1=Barrada |first1=Yto |title=Artist Project/A Life Full of Holes |url=http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/16/barrada.php |access-date=5 October 2019 |issue=16 |magazine=Cabinet Magazine |date=Winter 2004–2005}} Barrada later used this title for her book (2005). The Strait of Gibraltar appears as a theme again in Barrada's series The Sleepers, from 2006, in which she depicts subjects lying down in public spaces.{{cite journal |last1=Salti |first1=Rashi |title=Sleepers, Magicians, Smugglers: Yto Barrada and the Other Archive of the Strait |journal=Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry |date=2007 |volume=16 |issue=16 |pages=98–106 |doi=10.1086/aft.16.20711663 |s2cid=184423680 }}

Barrada has presented her work in several galleries, such as Galerie Polaris in Paris.{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada |url=http://galeriepolaris.fr/yto-barrada/ |website=Galerie Polaris |access-date=5 October 2019}} In 2006 she cofounded Cinémathèque de Tanger, North Africa's first art house cinema and film archive.

In 1998 Barrada began a work she titled A Life Full of Holes: The Strait Project, which described the static and transitory life of her hometown of Tangier.{{cite journal |last1=Tazi |first1=Nadia |year=2007 |title=The State of the Straits |journal=Artefall |issue=16 |pages=91–106 |url=http://www.afterall.org/journal/issue.16/state.straits |access-date=22 January 2012 }} Her photographs depict a city where thousands of immigrants attempt to make the illegal and perilous journey across the Strait of Gibraltar.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/dec/22/artist-week-yto-barrada |title=Artist of the week 169: Yto Barrada |author=Skye Sherwin |date=22 December 2011 |work=The Guardian |access-date=20 January 2012}} This collaborative project focuses on the asymmetries of neo-colonial relationships between North Africa and Europe{{cite journal |last1=Crawley Jackson |first1=Amanda |title="Cette poétique du politique": Political and Representational Ecologies in the Work of Yto Barrada |journal=L'Esprit Créateur |date=Spring 2011 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=53–66 |doi=10.1353/esp.2011.0007 |s2cid=145244030 }} as well as the disillusionment of citizens wishing to leave Morocco for a different life in the North.{{cite web |last1=Placik |first1=Abby |title=Memory Place Desire: Yto Barrada |url=http://exhibits.haverford.edu/memoryplacedesire/artists/yto-barrada/ |website=haverford.edu |date=15 September 2014 |publisher=Haverford College |access-date=12 October 2019}}

Her 2007 work, Iris Tingitana Project, showed the meeting of botanical and urban landscapes.[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/arts/design/15veni.html?pagewanted=2 "That Unruly, Serendipitous Show in Venice"], The New York Times 15 June 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2011. This series focuses on the disappearance of Iris flowers, found in Tangier, that symbolize resistance because they grow in even the most difficult situations. This exhibition depicts Barrada's focus on the landscape and heritage of her home within her art.{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada Iris Tingitana Oxalis |url=https://kadist.org/work/iris-tingitana-oxalis/ |website=kadist.org |publisher=Kadist |access-date=12 October 2019}}

In April 2011, her solo exhibition Riffs opened at the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2011), and then travelled to Wiels, Brussels in September, and in Ikon Gallery, Birmingham the following June.{{Cite journal|last=Olga|first=Stefan|year=2013|title=YTO BARRADA|journal=Art in America|volume=101|pages=160|via=EBSCOhost}} This was Barrada's first large-scale exhibition in Germany, and it constituted works from her previous shows (A Life Full of Holes: The Strait Project (1998-2004) and Iris Tingitana (2007)) as well as new work. The title, Riffs, contains references to music and rhythm as well as the Rif mountains of Morocco. The exhibit contained three films, Beau Geste (2009), Playground (2010), and Hand-Me-Downs (2011), which all spoke to the ideas of riffs, resistance, strength, and memory.{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada: Riffs |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/yto-barrada-riffs |website=guggenheim.org |publisher=Guggenheim |access-date=12 October 2019}}

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota exhibited Album: Cinématèque Tangier, a project by Yto Barrada from 21 November 2013 to 18 May 2014.{{Cite journal|last=Szucs|first=Suzanne|date=Jan–Feb 2014|title=ALBUM: CINÉMATHÈQUE TANGIER, A PROJECT BY YTO BARRADA.|journal=Afterimage|volume=41|issue=4|pages=14–19|doi=10.1525/aft.2014.41.4.18}} Here, Barrada once again showed the film Hand-Me-Downs (2011) and exhibited work depicting life in Tangier. This exhibit specifically touched on Morocco's artistic and cinematic history through commissioned vintage movie posters and Barrada's sculpture Palm Sign (2010). This exhibition was curated by Sheryl Mousley and Clara Kim.{{cite web |title=Album: Cinematheque Tangier, a project by Yto Barrada |url=https://walkerart.org/calendar/2013/album-cinematheque-tangier-a-project-by-yto-b |website=walkerart.org |publisher=Walker Art |access-date=12 October 2019}}

In 2016, Barrada presented the exhibition Faux Guide at The Power Plant in Toronto, Ontario, depicting issues and images of post-colonial Morocco.{{citation |url = https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2016/10/31/power-plant-show-offers-a-souk-with-a-point-of-view.html |title = At the Power Plant, a souk with a point of view |work = Toronto Star |first = Murray |last = Whyte |date = 31 October 2016}} This was a solo exhibit for Barrada that dealt with ongoing fossil exploration and the natural history of Morocco along what is known as "Dinosaur Road," where the fossil industry is most prevalent. This exhibition pulled from several of Barrada's projects at the time including North African Toy Series (2015) and Untitled (Orthoceras Coca-Cola bottles) (2016).{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada: Faux Guide |url=http://www.thepowerplant.org/Exhibitions/2016/Fall-2016/Solo-exhibition.aspx |website=thepowerplant.org |publisher=The Power Plant |access-date=12 October 2019}} Faux Guide presented viewers with ideas about how the natural world and human world are intertwined.{{cite journal |last1=Winant |first1=Carmen |title=Yto Barrada: Dinosaur Road |journal=Aperture |date=1 March 2016 |pages=110–117 |url=http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=86cd2a56-215c-47bc-b149-a02abf84f7d0%40pdc-v-sessmgr04 |access-date=12 October 2019}}

From 25 September – 22 December 2019, Barrada's exhibition Dye Garden was on display at the Neuberger Museum of Art in New York following Barrada's award of the 2019 Roy R. Neuberger Prize. This exhibition includes video, photos, sculpture, and hand-dyed textiles inspired by her background, family history, and the West's history of colonization. All of the artwork in Dye Garden relates to the geology and botany of North Africa, a topic Barrada continues to return to, process, and relate to. This exhibit was originally presented at the American Academy in Rome during Barrada's residency there, and 2019 is the first time it has been shown in the United States.{{cite web |last1=Neuberger Museum of Art |title=Yto Barrada: The Dye Garden |url=https://artswestchester.org/yto-barrada-the-dye-garden/ |website=artswestchester.org |date=17 September 2019 |publisher=Arts Westerchester |access-date=12 October 2019}}

• Yto Barrada: "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nougat", organized by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, August to December 2020 (solo exhibition){{Cite web|title=Qatar Museums opens four major exhibitions|url=https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/03/08/2020/Qatar-Museums-opens-four-major-exhibitions|access-date=2022-02-01|website=www.thepeninsulaqatar.com|date=3 August 2020 }}
• Yto Barrada: Dye Garden - Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY - September 25 through December 22, 2019 (solo exhibition){{cite web |last1=Neuberger Museum of Art |title=Yto Barrada: The Dye Garden |url=https://artswestchester.org/yto-barrada-the-dye-garden/ |website=artswestchester.org |date=17 September 2019 |publisher=Arts Westerchester |access-date=12 October 2019}}
• How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself - The Pace Gallery, New York – 2018 (solo exhibition){{Cite web|last=Wilson-Goldie|first=Kaelen|title=Yto Barrada|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/pace-32-east-57th-street-pace-macgill-gallery-pace-african-oceanic-art-75012|access-date=2020-11-08|website=www.artforum.com|language=en-US}}
• Agadir - Barbican Centre 7 Feb 2018 – 20 May 2018 (solo exhibition){{Cite web|url=https://www.barbican.org.uk/yto-barrada-agadir|title=Yto Barrada: Agadir {{!}} Barbican|website=www.barbican.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-03-15}}
• Tree Identification for Beginners performed with Performa 17 as a film and performance multi-media show - New York - 2017 (solo exhibition){{cite web |title=Yto Barrada: Tree Identifications for Beginners |url=http://17.performa-arts.org/events/yto-barrada |website=Performa 17 |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Faux Guide - Pace Gallery London - 2015 (solo exhibition){{cite web |title=Yto Barrada's Faux Guide To Open at Pace Gallery London |url=https://www.artlyst.com/news/yto-barradas-faux-guide-to-open-at-pace-gallery-london/ |website=Artlyst |publisher=Artlyst Ltd. |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Before Our Eyes: Other Cartographies of the Rif - MACBA, Barcelona - 2014 (group exhibition){{cite web |title=Before Our Eyes |url=https://www.macba.cat/en/exhibition-before-our-eyes |website=MACBA |date=24 January 2014 |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Album: Cinématèque Tangier, a project by Yto Barrada - Walker Art Center - 2013-2014 (solo exhibition){{cite web |title=Album: Cinematheque Tangier, a project by Yto Barrada |url=https://walkerart.org/calendar/2013/album-cinematheque-tangier-a-project-by-yto-b |website=Walker Art |publisher=Walker Art Center |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• La courte échelle (ou l'échelle des voleurs) – Studio Fotokino, Marseille, 2013 (solo exhibition){{cite web |title=Yto Barrada: La Courte échelle (ou l'échelle des voleurs) |url=http://www.fotokino.org/Yto-Barrada |website=Fotokino Marseille |publisher=Fotokino |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Mobilier Urbain – The Pace Gallery, London – 2012 (solo exhibition){{cite web |title=Yto Barrada Mobilier Urbain |url=https://www.bidoun.org/articles/yto-barrada |website=Bidoun |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Project Space: I decided not to save the world Tate, London - 2011-12 (group exhibition){{cite web |title=Project Space: I decided not to save the world |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibitionseries/project-space/project-space-i-decided-not-save-world |website=Tate |publisher=Tate Museum |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Riffs – Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin – 2011 (solo exhibition){{Cite journal|last=Olga|first=Stefan|year=2013|title=YTO BARRADA|journal=Art in America|volume=101|pages=160|via=EBSCOhost}}
• Play – The Met, New York, NY – 2010 (solo exhibition){{cite web |title=Yto Barrada: Lyautey Unit Blocks (Play) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/716497 |website=Met Museum |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• Uneven Geographies – Nottingham Contemporary – 2010 (group exhibition){{cite web |title=Uneven Geographies |url=https://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/whats-on/uneven-geographies/ |website=Nottingham Contemporary |access-date=29 October 2019}}
• DisOrientation II: The Rise and Fall of Arab Cities - Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Nov. 22, 2009 - Feb. 20, 2010 (group exhibition){{cite web |last1=Ackley |first1=Brian |title=Disorientation II: The Rise and Fall of Arab Cities |url=https://www.bidoun.org/articles/disorientation-ii |website=Bidoun |access-date=31 October 2019}}
• Iris Tingintana Project - Galerie Polaris, Paris, France - September 29 through October 30, 2007 (solo exhibition)[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/arts/design/15veni.html?pagewanted=2 "That Unruly, Serendipitous Show in Venice"], The New York Times 15 June 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
• Africa Remix - Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany (and various other locations through 2006) - July 24 - Novembver 7, 2004 (group exhibition){{cite journal |title=Africa Remix |url=https://frieze.com/article/africa-remix |journal=Frieze |date=13 June 2005 |issue=92 |access-date=31 October 2019 |last1=Kapferer |first1=Roland }}
• A Life Full of Holes/The Strait Project - Galerie Delacroix, Tangier, Morocco (and various other locations through 2006) - April 7 through May 27, 2001 (solo exhibitions){{cite journal |last1=Tazi |first1=Nadia |year=2007 |title=The State of the Straits |journal=Artefall |issue=16 |pages=91–106 |url=http://www.afterall.org/journal/issue.16/state.straits |access-date=22 January 2012 }}
• Quiet as It's Kept - 2022 Whitney Biennial - 2022{{Cite web |last=Durón |first=Maximilíano |date=2022-01-25 |title=Taking the Title 'Quiet as It's Kept,' 2022 Whitney Biennial Names 63 Participating Artists |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/whitney-biennial-2022-artist-list-1234616604/ |access-date=2022-02-28 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}

Yto Barrada. Moi je suis la langue et vous êtes les dents is a catalogue published by Calouste Gulbenkian in 2019 and written by curator Rita Fabiana.{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada. Moi je suis la langue et vous êtes les dents |url=https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/publication/yto-barrada-moi-je-suis-la-langue-et-vous-etes-les-dents/ |website=Calouste Gulbenkian Museum |access-date=31 October 2019}}

In 2017, Koenig Books published the limited edition A Guide to Trees for Governors and Gardeners and A Guide to Fossils for Forgers and Foreigners with the Deutsche Guggenheim.{{cite book |title=Yto Barrada Guide to Trees + Guide to Fossils |url=https://www.artbook.com/9783960980292.html |website=Art Book |publisher=The D.A.P. Catalog |access-date=31 October 2019}}

A monograph, entitled Yto Barrada, was published by JRP Ringier in 2013, with texts from Marie Muracciole, Juan Goytisolo, and a photographic essay by Jean-François Chevrier.{{cite book |title=Yto Barrada|url=https://www.artbook.com/9783037642023.html |website=Art Book |publisher=D.A.P. Catalog |access-date=31 October 2019}}

Barrada published Riffs in 2011 with publisher Hatje Cantz as a catalogue for her work.{{cite book |title=Yto Barrada: Riffs |url=https://www.artbook.com/9783775730211.html |website=Art Book |publisher=The D.A.P. Catalog |access-date=31 October 2019}}

Barrada's book, A Life Full of Holes: The Strait Project, takes its title from a story by Larbi Layachi. It was published by Autograph ABP in 2005.{{cite web |title=A Life Full of Holes, Yto Barrada |url=https://www.dashwoodbooks.com/pages/books/3064/yto-barrada/a-life-full-of-holes/?soldItem=true |website=Dashwood Books |access-date=31 October 2019}}

• 2023 – Soros Arts Fellowship, presented by the Open Society FoundationsFrancesca Aton (25 October 2023), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/2023-soros-arts-fellowships-1234684644/ $100,000 Soros Grants Go to Artists Cannupa Hanska Luger, Yto Barrada, Carolina Caycedo, and More] ARTnews.
• 2019 – Roy R. Neuberger Prize, presented by the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2019/03/19/yto-barrada-neuberger-prize/|title=Neuberger Museum of Art Prize Goes to Yto Barrada|last=Armstrong|first=Annie|date=2019-03-19|website=ARTnews|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-21}}
• 2016 – Tiger Award for Short Films (for Faux Départ, describing the fossil industry in Morocco){{cite web |title=Faux départ |url=https://iffr.com/en/2016/films/faux-d%C3%A9part |website=IFFR |publisher=International Film Festival Rotterdam |access-date=30 October 2019}}
• 2015 – Abraaj Group Art Prize, presented by the Abraaj Group{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada Named Winner of Abraaj Group Art Prize |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/yto-barrada-named-winner-of-abraaj-group-art-prize-48302 |website=Art Forum |access-date=30 October 2019}}
• 2013 – Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography, presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology{{cite web |title=Peabody Museum Names Yto Barrada as the 2013 Robert Gardner Fellow in Photography |url=https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/files/Yto%20Barrada%20named%20Gardner%20Fellow.pdf |publisher=Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology |access-date=30 October 2019}}
• 2011 – Artist of the Year, presented by Deutsche Bank{{cite web |title=Deutsche Bank names Yto Barrada "Artist of the Year 2011" |url=https://www.db.com/newsroom_news/archive/medien/deutsche-bank-names-yto-barrada-artist-of-the-year-2011-en-11620.htm |website=Deutsche Bank Newsroom |publisher=Deutsche Bank Frankfurt am Main |access-date=29 October 2019}}{{cite web |title=CV |url=http://www.ytobarrada.com/index.php/bio/cv/). |website=ytobarrada.com |access-date=3 October 2019}}
• 2006 – Ellen Auerbach Award{{cite web |title=Yto Barrada |url=https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/morocco/yto-barrada/ |website=Barjeel Art Foundation |access-date=29 October 2019}}

• A Life Full of Holes, 1964 autobiographical novel by Moroccan author Driss Ben Hamed Charhadi

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [http://www.ytobarrada.com/ Website of Yto Barrada]
• [http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/archive/yto-barrada Noorderlicht / Archive / Yto Barrada]
• [http://www.fotokino.org/Yto-Barrada/ Yto Barrada, La courte échelle (ou l’échelle des voleurs), Studio Fotokino, Marseille, juillet 2013]
• [http://kadist.org/en/people/yto-barrada Yto Barrada] at Kadist Art Foundation

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Category:1971 births

Category:Living people

Category:Moroccan women artists

Category:20th-century French women artists

Category:21st-century French women artists

Category:Artists from Paris

Category:University of Paris alumni

Category:Moroccan contemporary artists

Category:French contemporary artists

Category:Moroccan emigrants to the United States

Category:French emigrants to Morocco