Moroccan Brides

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Moroccan Brides, 2000

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Valérie Belin’s often abstract compositions are also notable for being richly ornamental. Decked out like idols, these Moroccan brides turn into decorative motifs while asserting the irreducible alterity of their presence. With her body wholly disappearing behind the magnificence of her costume, the Fez bride is emblematic of this series. Her heavy, purely ceremonial gown, held in place by a wooden frame, is both literally and figuratively a prison, a symbol of the wife’s subjection. Its envelope-like appearance, however, also evokes the chrysalis, one of the artist’s favoured themes, which resonates particularly here with the young girl’s metamorphosis into a woman.

Untitled

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
Untitled

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
Untitled

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
Untitled

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
Untitled

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP
Untitled

Gelatin silver print
63.4 x 49.2 inches (161 x 125 cm)
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
39.4 x 31.5 inches (100 x 80 cm)
Edition of 5 + 2 AP

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