Boujloud Beats: Rhythms of Plurality

The title Boujloud Beats: Rhythms of Plurality refers to the way people constantly shift between different layers of their personality and how these layers sometimes come together or clash. The identity of the artist and how they navigate through society, expressing themselves in various forms, is just as important as the artwork itself. Just as the Boujloud ritual breaks aesthetic conventions, this exhibition does so by celebrating multiple identities and self-expression.

Is it possible to be a disabled, vampire, and Egyptian artist? Or a performance artist who is also a TikToker, a queer person from Syria who trolls conservative trolls in return? In this exhibition, the artists reflect on their queerness, neurodiversity, and “otherness,” challenging traditional views of identity by celebrating their unique self-expression. Together with Movement Director, curator, and dancer Mohamed Boujarra, they offer an alternative to the dominant Western standard that homogenizes everyone. The Boujloud exhibition builds on the themes of this centuries-old Moroccan carnival but from the perspective of contemporary artists who engage with both Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) identity and the queer community. How can art bring together seemingly clashing identities in a fluid way?