Mohamed Bourouissa
The Barnes Foundation
Mohamed Bourouissa began his breakout series “Périphérique,” 2005–2009, after the riots that famously engulfed banlieues across France. Collaborating with friends and fellow inhabitants of the Paris suburbs he hails from, the artist created carefully staged tableaux vivantsborrowing compositional and lighting cues from paintings by the likes of Caravaggio, Delacroix, and Géricaultthat captured eerie moments of undisclosed tension. By representing the viewpoint, lived experience, and urban milieu of the banlieues’ residents, Bourouissa’s depictions of and from the periphery did not