Programming
SOUFÏA BENSAÏD
gr’attitude’ du jour
I note what I appreciate from my day. It's about simple actions and small gestures, what is needed to cultivate a conscientious attitude in front of what surrounds me. I celebrate my appreciations at the studio each day with a written page of gr‘attitude’.
I note what I appreciate from my day. It's about simple actions and small gestures, what is needed to cultivate a conscientious attitude in front of what surrounds me. I celebrate my appreciations at the studio each day with a written page of gr‘attitude’. At Thanksgiving in 2012, I posted lists of Gratitude of the day in Montreal neighbourhoods. This intervention lasted a month, in small and large formats, posted in outdoor and indoor spaces.
Art doesn’t transcends everyday preoccupations, it confronts us to reality through the singularity of a relationship to the world.
- Nicolas Bourriaud, L’Esthétique relationnelle, Les presses du réel, 2001.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My artwork is a research of attitude more than an exploration of media. It is a ritualized practice, which draws its source in what meets my everyday life. I choose my subjects in what awakes and excites my attention.
My art is anchored in the appreciation of an instant; space, movement, rhythm, colours, and technical sobriety characterize it. Whether the final product takes form as relational art, infiltrative practices, installation, action art, drawing, performance or writing, what is indispensable to the work are its relationships.
Being in relation weaves the foundations of my work. Whether the piece is shown within interior or exterior spaces, the relation of the self to the other offers a field of presence facilitating transmission.
My interest in relationships lies in the possibility of confronting someone's limitations, and in what options are offered in terms of transformations.
Looking for common themes in everyday life; I use humble objects or biographic material to compile lists, (Ce que j’ai aimé, Le mur des bonnes nouvelles), construct installations (Je fais la paix, Le plus intime est naturel), drawings (série Droite-Gauche, De l’intérieur tout se voit, Beaucoup se donne à entendre), or actions (Gr’attitude’ du jour) that create a rhythm within my practice.
By including simple, playful, and equally thoughtful aspects to the work, I employ an approach that brings the inner vital strength of being at the forefront.
A response to sensationalist social culture, I question the arbitrary limitations we place around concepts of “success”, and how they assert themselves in our lives. (Viens dans ma Bulle, Ce que j’ai aimé avant 40 ans, J’aime…et vous?).
The projects I initiate reveal an exploration on consciousness, how consciousness of experiences and influences change life paths, and where the possibilities of transforming the visions we impose upon ourselves, and extend to others, are located.
