MOHAMED BOUROUISSA

In 2023, Ocula interviewed the artist about recent works, including Brutal Family Roots, an installation commissioned for the 2020 Biennale of Sydney, which turns the electrical activity of acacia shrubs into sound, as well as The Whispering of Ghosts (2018–2020), a short film tracking a community garden that Bourouissa developed for the 2018 Liverpool Biennial. Bourouissa’s recent projects continue to expand his collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach, engaging diverse communities and experimental forms.

Early Years and Background

Raised in Algeria and Paris, Bourouissa studied visual arts at the Sorbonne (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. His formative experiences in the Parisian banlieues and migration between North Africa and Europe shaped his ongoing explorations of social structures and new forms of collaboration. Bourouissa lives and works in Paris, where ongoing proximity to marginalised communities informs his materials and themes.

Mohamed Bourouissa Artworks

Mohamed Bourouissa’s art confronts visibility and power, drawing from lived realities and the legacy of art history. He often focuses on the social dynamics of control, particularly by the state. He works in photography, video, installation, and drawing, staging moments of tension and solidarity, and often referencing excluded groups.

Seminal artworks and projects by Bourouissa include:

• ‘Périphérique’ (2005–09), a breakthrough photographic series probing the representation of immigrant youth in Paris. Each image in the series features Bourouissa’s friends and acquaintances restaging scenes from French history paintings within the Parisian suburbs where they grew up, and where civil unrest broke out in 2005 in response to the policing of mostly migrant youths in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods.
• La fenêtre (2005), which Bourouissa pinpoints as the first photo that he consciously composed to encapsulate the tension between context, reality, and an artistic viewpoint.
• Temps mort (2008–09), a moving-image work featuring mobile-phone video pieces mapping isolation within French prisons, composed of mobile-phone videos and texts exchanged between the artist and his jailed friend.
• Shoplifters (2014), a photographic installation that presents photographs the artist encountered on a wall in a New York grocery store. Taken by the store manager, each image shows a shoplifter holding the items they stole—such as laundry detergent and bread—magnifying the systemic inequality driving the actions on either side of the camera.
• Nasser (2015), a video piece where Bourouissa’s uncle struggles to read his court judgment for violent robbery after getting into a fight for food.
• ‘Horse Day’ (2013–17), a social project featuring photography and a video shown with the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, Philadelphia, which reframes Black equestrianism as resistance, documenting a low-income community of Black horseback riders. The work marks the first time Bourouissa embedded himself in another community, which subsequently became a hallmark of his practice. He lived among the Fletcher Street community for months, eventually proposing to organise a horse pageant that is depicted in the resulting film.
• Généalogie de la Violence (2024), awarded the Mario Merz Prize, examines police violence and social control through staged and documentary forms. Bourouissa was selected from a group of artists that included Elena Bellantoni, Anna Franceschini, Voluspa Jarpa, and Agnes Questionmark. The jury was composed of curator Caroline Bourgeois, independent curator and author Manuel Borja-Villel, New Museum and Fondazione Trussardi artistic director Massimiliano Gioni, and Fondazione Merz president Beatrice Merz. Their opinions were considered alongside a public vote.
• Hands (2025), part of the Communautés exhibition, reflects on gesture and collective memory.

Select Awards and Accolades

• Mario Merz Prize (2025). The Mario Merz Prize is a biannual award promoting emerging and innovative artists and musicians; recipients are commissioned to create a solo exhibition for the Fondazione Merz in Turin—one of Europe’s leading institutions for contemporary art. Named after Arte Povera pioneer Mario Merz, this prestigious prize has previously honoured artists including Wael Shawky, Petrit Halilaj, Bertille Bak, and Yto Barrada. Bourouissa was selected for his film Généalogie de la Violence by a jury of leading curators and through a public vote.
• Photobook of the Year, Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards (year confirmed as 2022). Awarded for Bourouissa’s significant contributions to artist books and photographic publishing.
• Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2020). Awarded for Bourouissa’s exhibition Free Trade at Rencontres d’Arles, this major prize recognises significant contributions to contemporary photography globally.
• Prize of the Jury, Rencontres d’Arles (2018). Recognising outstanding artistic achievement at Europe’s foremost photography festival.
• Shortlisted, Prix Marcel Duchamp (2014 and 2018). France’s highest contemporary art honour, awarded annually to innovative artists living and working in France.
• Shortlisted, Prix Pictet (2012, and 2014). A leading global prize for photography and sustainability, for his Périphérique series.
• Prix Fondation Blachère, Apt (2010). Supporting African and diaspora artists in contemporary art.

To keep up with news relating to Mohamed Bourouissa, follow the artist on Ocula.

Mohamed Bourouissa Exhibitions

Mohamed Bourouissa has held solo and group exhibitions at major international institutions.

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Communautés (2025), Fondazione MAST, Bologna
• Signals (2024), Palais de Tokyo, Paris
• Strange Attractor (2023–2024), Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary, and Outsider, Lille
• Urban Riders (2018), Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
• Urban Riders (2017), Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia:

Select Group Exhibitions

• Venice Biennale (2019)
• Biennale of Sydney (2020)
• Rencontres d’Arles (2018)

To keep up to date with Mohamed Bourouissa’s exhibitions, follow the artist on Ocula and view his exhibitions on Ocula.

Website and Instagram

Mohamed Bourouissa’s website can be found here, and Instagram here.

More reading and viewing

Mohamed Bourouissa’s practice has been profiled by Ocula Magazine in features including Mohamed Bourouissa Won’t Take a Single Position (2025). You can read articles about the artist on Ocula here. A video interview with Bourouissa can be found here.

Mohamed Bourouissa FAQs

Ocula | 2025