Graduating from Villa Arson in 2023, Gil Lekh is in residence at 18 Marrakech from October 11 to November 22, 2024.
Gil Lekh
Marseille-based artist-researcher Gil Lekh draws his inspiration from a multi-faceted career: gymnast, construction worker, socio-cultural event organizer, punk, researcher, activist, climbing instructor.
Gil Lekh’s work lies somewhere between research and emotional, political and social exploration. His multiple experiences shape his identity and influence his work. With a background in construction, urban areas and punk culture, he uses objects and materials from these areas. In this way, he composes a materiality derived from living, made of glass, plaster and iron, putting them to the test through collective gestures, photography, fanzines, research texts and poetic writing.
The residence
During his residency at Le 18 in Marrakech, Gil Lekh is developing a research project on artistic practices linked to the memory and imagination of colonial experiences in Morocco. This is the first part of a research project that also covers the former Indochina, North Africa and France.
This residency enabled him to meet people from the Moroccan-Vietnamese diaspora, his own family from the Algerian and Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora, and to investigate his Vietnamese origins.
Gil Lekh pays particular attention to the subject of postmemory, a term used by Marianne Hirsch to describe the relationship that the “next generation” has with the cultural, collective and personal trauma experienced by those who came before it.
To explore subjects such as the transmission and trauma inherited from colonial history in individual and collective narratives, Gil Lekh creates sculptures, installations and activates spaces for reflection and sharing.
Le 18
A multidisciplinary cultural space dedicated to research, creation, encounters, mutual learning and knowledge sharing, Le 18 has been hosting artists in residence in the medina of Marrakech since 2013.
Miramar
Miramar is a Mediterranean network of academic, artistic and cultural players that aims to support the professional development of young artists and art workers, and to create opportunities for cultural exchange based on solidarity, reciprocity and hospitality.
In 2024, the program will offer six residencies in the Mediterranean to graduates of the eight member institutions of the L’École(s) du Sud network.
Miramar is funded by the Institut français du Maroc, the Institut français de Tunisie, Xarkis NGO and L’Ecole(s) du Sud.
