Yasmina Alaoui & Marco Guerra
EXPOSITION “One Thousand and One Dreams” Juillet 2010 Beyrouth
Voluptuous figures
inhabit the mysterious atmosphere created in
the works of the artist, Yasmina Alaoui and the photographer, Marco
Guerra. Forming a couple in life, as well as in art, Yasmina,
French-Moroccan, and Marco, Chilean, share the same fascination with
the inter-play of light and color on the naked form. It is through their collaboration
that
an immediate fusion of worlds and talents is born, forming the pretext for
the creation of
One Thousand and One Dreams.
Marco Guerra is widely known in the fashion world, as photographing for such
names as Conde Nast Traveller, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Levi’s, Bergdorf
Goodman and
Ralph Lauren. He simultaneously develops his own projects in film and photography.
Yasmina Alaoui studied drawing and sculpture at the Louvre and immersed herself
for 10
years in the cultural richness of Paris. She also earned a B.A. of Fine Arts
from William
and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. Through the combination of their
techniques,
Yasmina and Marco create a unique way of portraying their models; from these
silhouettes
emerge sensuality and a taste for movement.
Their collaboration begins with Marco photographing the subject in black and
white, informally posed against a black background. He often seeks to show
that which
is intimate; the elegant lines of the hands and arms, the sinuous waves of
the back,
the folds around the pubis. He sculpts the models curves by creating a strong
contrast
between light and shadow. The images then pass to the talented hands of Yasmina
who
dresses the naked forms in drawings she creates in china ink or watercolor.
According to
Yasmina, “The Drawings are emotions, the history of the soul. We all
have these designs
on us. They are the hallmarks of our past, our hopes, our perceptions, our
heritage and
our intimate dreams. Unlike tattoos, which are made deliberately, they are
not a choice.
They are like an emanation of the soul that would appear on the skin.”
Each figure then arouses new designs in the imagination of Yasmina. She plays
on
the interstices of the frail body and the wrinkled or opulent silhouettes.
The patterns are
never simple yet subtly tie together the muscled busts, generous hips, dancing
hands, and
hypnotic eyes. Yasmina and Marco’s works give the illusion that the
designs are painted on
the skin, they are illuminations of the soul. These tranquil images form a
bridge between
reality and the imagination, transporting the viewer to a world where ancient
and modern
converge.
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