Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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Riotous colour and queer resistance from the Maghreb
LEO BOIX recommends a refreshing, non-Western and subversive look at what it means to be LGBTQI+ in Morocco
Soufiane Ababri Bedwork, 2023 (L to R) Men in the sun; La Reparation
[Rebecca Fanuele]
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
Soufiane Ababri: Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated
The Curve, Barbican
SINCE the so-called Arab Spring of 2011, Morocco has seen a growing social movement that has managed to mobilise large numbers of citizens around socio-economic, political and identity demands.
Within those groups, activists who identified as LGBTQI+ brought forward necessary discussions around sexual orientation and the rights of that specific community within contemporary Morocco and in the wider Arab world.
Moroccan artist Soufiane Ababri (b1985) has added his own voice to the struggle with a dazzling art commission currently at the Barbican’s Curve Gallery — his first solo exhibition at a major British institution.
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