The Société civile des auteurs multimédia (Scam) in Paris is showing the remarkable work of Ferhat Bouda, winner of the Prix Pierre & Alexandra Boulat 2016.
For seven years, the Algerian photographer Ferhat Bouda has documented, in black and white, the lives of the Amazighs and participated in their struggle against the assimilation and the oblivion to which they are assigned. Not part of the concept of nation-state, the Amazighs (or Berbers, an expression that means “free man”) occupy a vast swathe of territory which extends from the Moroccan Atlantic coast to the Siwa oasis in Egypt. Individual and plural, the Berber culture is one of the most ancient but also one of the most unknown and the most threatened in North Africa. Oppressed, dispersed, and often persecuted, the Berbers are profoundly attached to their traditions and strongly assert their identity. They are both nomadic and sedentary, Muslims, Christians and Jews and represent a minority that resists tyranny.
In this exhibition, Ferhat Bouda presents two parts of his work: Images collected during his journeys to Niger and Morocco. They are, in the two cases, isolated tribes who safeguard their customs from external influences, at the price of oblivion and indifference. The Amazighs are neglected by governments and often live without electricity, without health care, without education, but achieve self-sufficiency thanks to their ancestral knowledge. Very often, the men leave the villages to find work in the towns. So, the women are the mainstays, the keepers of the living memory of Amazigh traditions.
Ferhat Bouda, Les Berbères
From 20th February to 18th May 2018
Scam
5 Avenue Velasquez
75008 Paris
France
