"Maya Louhichi (born 1985, Paris) is a French-Tunisian visual artist whose artistic work revolves around questions of identity and its connection to our daily gestures,
the body, as well as the notion of the continuous search for traces of existence, fragments of the past, blooming in the present.
The theme of movement and fluidity, either freely danced or completely hindered, is omnipresent in her work.
Between 2009 and 2014, she produced several photographic series on the theme of bodily expression in the contemporary urban world.
Her photographic view of everyday movements and gestures has led her to develop different ways of capturing fragments of portraits taken on the spot along with personal testimonials.
“Petites histoires enfumées” (Little smoky stories), documentary made in 2015, is a collection of work where intimate testimonials within a Tunisian collective memory are at the forefront;
the work particularly highlights gestures attached to the cigarette, something deeply inscribed in our society.
The death of Maya Louhichi’s father in 2018, film director Taieb Louhichi, marked a turning point in her artistic research.
The relationship to movement, memories and the body remain at the heart of her approach, but other themes arise:
mourning, trauma, hindered movement, absence, scarcity, emptiness as well as our personal quest through the past to find and immortalize traces of existence".
Her work is selected for the Bamako Encounters - African Biennale of Photography in Mali in 2022.
Maya Louhichi is mentored by artist Randa Maroufi for Passerelles 2022 edition, a program by the association Contemporaines.
Bérénice Primot for raconterlenid.fr
Education
2023, Professional Development Workshop for Visual Storytellers with Adama Delphine Fawundu, The Nlele Institute, online - Nigeria
2019-2021, Le Masterklass with Klavdij Sluban, Paris - France
2020, VOID Impromptu photobook workshop, online - Greece
2019-2020, Session XX ENDA (The National School of Art) Biennale of Paris, Paris - France
2019, Arles Summer workshop with Antoine d’Agata, Arles - France
2018, Arles Summer workshop with Julien Magre, Arles - France
Group exhibitions
2022 Et dans la terre, je me souviens, Bamako Encounters - African Biennale of Photography, Mali
2022 Et dans la terre, je me souviens, 18th Francophonie Summit in Djerba, Tunisia
2022 Et dans la terre, je me souviens, Jaou Photo Tunis, Tunisia
2019 Et puis le vide, Festival de la photographie d’Ormesson sur Marne, France
2019 Taieb, un homme - des rêves, Goree Regards sur cours, Senegal
2017 La pollution des littoraux, travelling exhibition, Espace Yvonne Guegan, France - Quebec
2013 La danse et l’urbanisme, Festival Photo des Femmes d’Alfortville, guest of honour, France
2012 Festival Photo des Femmes d’Alfortville, France
2012 Urban Sports, Diosgyor cultural center, Hungary
Solo exhibitions
2012 L’esthétique de la gestuelle sportive, CIDJ Paris, France
2012 Urban Sports, Miskolc Factory Arena Fesztival, Hungary
Online publications
2023 Corridor Elephant J'ai 20 ans, on est jeudi et je regarde un film, France
2023 L'Oeil de la Photographie - The Eye of Photography J'ai 20 ans, on est jeudi et je regarde un film, France
2022 Le Temps Maya Louhichi entre multiplicité, différence, devenir et patrimoine by Zouhour Harbaoui, Tunisia
2022 Afrique in visu Les mémoires partagées - interview de Maya Louhichi by Lynn S.K., France
2022 ZO mag', Jamais la lumière ne s'éteint by Roger Calmé, France
2022 Arts Hebdo Médias, Maya Louhichi, par delà l'absence, France
2022 Le nid - traitement et valorisation du patrimoine culturel immatériel, raconterlenid.fr
Maya Louhichi : un travail photographique à la croisée de la mémoire intime, du rapport au geste, de l'archive et de la trace
by Bérénice Primot, France
2021 Les filles de la photo - coup de coeur de Jeanne Mercier “Et dans la terre, je me souviens”, France
2021 Corridor Elephant Et dans la terre, je me souviens, France
2021 L'Oeil de la photographie - The Eye of Photography Et dans la terre, je me souviens, France
2018 www.revuephoto.com, France
2015 Magazine réponses photo Les analyses critiques de la rédaction, France
2013 Parizart Maya Louhichi, Photographe by Francis Ozale, France
2013 Alfortville le mag Journée internationale de la femme, France
Award / Grant / Shortlists
2023 Recipient of Helping Hands Grant, TUI Care Foundation, The Netherlands
2021 Shortlisted, The Photography Prize of the Fondation des Treilles, France
2017 Finalist, RDVI Alter Images, France
2013 Shortlisted, International Fine Art Photography Award
2012 Winner 1st Prize, Festival Photo des Femmes d’Alfortville, France
Artist residency
2024 Caravane Tighmert, Morocco
Filmography
2021 Gestes quotidiens, photographic film, 2min31
2015 Petites histoires enfumées, documentary film, 27min
2013 Gaddour - peintre en bâtiment tunisien, documentary film, 3min
Festivals / Screenings
2017 Petites histoires enfumées, selected at Nuits du court métrage Tunisien, France
2015 Petites histoires enfumées, selected at La 4ème Rencontre Annuelle des Réalisateurs de Films Tunisiens, Tunisia
2015 Petites histoires enfumées, screened at soirées courts métrages TUNIS TOUT COURT, Tunisia
2015 Petites histoires enfumées, screened at Rencontres Cinématographiques de Hergla, Tunisia
2015 Petites histoires enfumées, screened at Rencontres de Caen - CITIM Regards croisés de jeunes, France