Charif Benhelima
Regeneration, 2024
Acrylic on polaroid 600 color instant film,
with hand-painted passe-partout in artist frame
Frame 43,1 cm x 35,3 cm / Polaroid 11 x 9 cm
Sequence of 10 unique images
For the Kortrijk Triennale, Charif Benhelima created this photo sequence, where a series of photos are combined into one whole action. Benhelima took Polaroids of the same plant and reinterpreted it anew each time. By manually painting over the Polaroid, this image changes each time. Although the images strongly resemble each other, they are all completely unique.
The image sequence can be included in Benhelima’s long-running Ubiquitas series. In this series, exotic plants—‘foreign species’ that do not naturally occur in Belgium—are partially painted over. By painting over these images, Benhelima deliberately blurs the photographic context, making the images unrecognizable and interchangeable like fading memories.
In his Ubiquitas research, Benhelima confronts his own contradictory identities that have been part of his self-image since childhood. These are two ambivalent worlds that, after a long struggle, are finally beginning to tolerate each other.