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Yto Barrada

2013 Robert Gardner Fellow

Born in Paris, and raised in Morocco and France, Barrada lives and works in New York, USA, and Tangier, Morocco. Her work has appeared internationally in exhibitions including Art Dubai, the Tate Gallery (London), the Fowler Museum (Los Angeles), MoMA (New York and San Francisco), Jeu du Paume (Paris) and the 2007 and 2011 Venice Biennale. According to Peabody Essex Museum’s Curator of Photography, Phillip Prodger, “Barrada has a gift for finding personal, intimate moments that capture the real-life effects of global trade and exchange. “ Barrada’s artistic practice includes photographs, film, sculpture, and print publication, all of which she will create during her fellowship year to complete the project, “A Hole is to Dig.”

A rusted sink sticks up out of the ground on a pipe. A few potted plants sit next to it, the sink and the sinks in the background appear to be in untended greenhouse.
Table d'écolier de la serre, Ferme pédagogique,Tanger, 2011. C-Print, 150 x 150 cm. ©2011 Yto Barrada.

For "A Hole is to Dig," Barrada will engage with the complex terrain of paleontology in her native Morocco. Since spinosaurus (spine lizard), one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs, was first found in Morocco in 1912, dozens of paleontological expeditions have ventured into the Moroccan desert to explore bones preserved by the dry terrain. Today Morocco is an open site for scientific study, but public fascination with dinosaurs has made them subject to a new breed of predator: plunderers, from small time souvenir collectors to international antiquities thieves. Like other nations, Morocco struggles to protect and preserve its natural history and cultural heritage from the vast illicit market for antiquities of all types. Barrada will explore multiple human perspectives, from scientists, museums, and cultural heritage professionals, to those who collect fossils, and those who plunder them and manufacture fakes.

Yto Barrada is represented by Galerie Polaris in Paris. To see more of Yto Barrada's work, visit her website.

Honors and Awards

  • 2011 Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year
  • 2006 Recipient Ellen Auerbach Scholarship, Akademie der Kunst, Berlin
  • Finalist for Deutsche Borse Prize
  • Nominee Rolex Award

Publications

  • Album Cinémathèque de Tanger, Librairie des Colonnes, Tangier, 2012 (with Cinémathèque de Tanger)
  • Artist of the Year: Yto Barrada. RIFFS, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2011. Contributors: Okwui Enwezor, Friedhelm Hütte, Marie Muracciole, Daniel Soutif, Pierre de Weck, Interview by Negar Azimi
  • A Guide to Trees for Governors and Gardeners, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, 2011
  • Yto Barrada, Nadia Tazi, A Life Full of Holes – The Strait Project, Autograph ABP, London, in association with Photoworks (Brighton), Mead Gallery (Warwick), and Witte de With (Rotterdam), 2005
  • Yto Barrada, Anaïs Masson, Maxence Rifflet, Fais un fils et jett- le à la mer, Edition Stéphane Place, Paris, 2004
  • Lost and Found Bureau (Objets Trouvés), Artist book, Paris, 2003
  • Estrangulo a su esposa, RomanPhoto, Artist book, 1998

Film

  • HandMeDowns, 2011. Film, video, 16mm and 8mm transferred to digital, color, sound, 15’
  • Playground, 2010. Film, 16mm transferred to digital, 3 channels color, silent, 21’
  • Beau geste, 2009. Film, 16mm transferred to digital, color, sound, 3’
  • The Botanist, 2007. Film, video, color, sound, 20’
  • La contrebandière (The Smuggler), 2005. Film, video, color, mute, 18’
  • Le magicien (The Magician), 2003. Film, video, color, sound, 18’