Koucha
Institut Français, El Jadida, Morocco
May 26 – June 2, 2018
Solo Exhibition
with the support of Limiditi–Temporary Art Project,
Residency Program curated by Younes Baba-Ali
For El Jadida’s French Institute, the artists presents a site specific and ephemeral installation exploring the concept of decay and metamorphosis. Titled Koucha, which refers to small fishing nets commonly used with soap to shower and exfoliate, the installation consists of a earth surface that resembles a giant indoor carpet transforming an outdoor situation in an ambivalent space. The works, displayed in two of the Institute’s cocktails tents, are installed directly on the earth floor or slightly incrusted in it. Several sculptures also hangs from the trees of the courtyard. Using local materials such as small fishing nets, leaves from one of the trees of the Institute's courtyard called Araucaria - originally from the Chilean region Arauco or hibiscus dried flowers brought with him from Mexico (but originally from Africa), the artist creates combinations of found objects of different backgrounds and narratives that seems to have drifted from one continent to another. Associating domestic and care materials like henna with plaster or mixing fresh milk and mint tea together in a gradient color combination, Mouchez creates ephemeral situations that highlight the material plastic qualities through simple but timeless processes like artesanal organic tinting or plaster moulding. Koucha suggest a sensitive, almost sensual connection between human and natural - as almost all the materials that the artist uses in his works are linked to the human body – while at the same time hinting at strategies of contamination and resistance.
