Rachid Koraichi : a passion for writing

              I ai'i'i\(' iri AxigiKui li\ iiialil. Haclild Is
wailiiiíi lof nic (iii (lie plallonii and lie
1ak(-s iiic lo Saiiil Ouciiliii la I'OIITÍC
wlicrc lii' l¡\('s ¡II aii oíd. rccciilK
rciioxalcd lioiisi> wliicli lli(> local coiincil
rcscrxcs for uiicsl arlisis. Il is all \i'r\
simple, lidv and liare. Racliid seis alioiil
brewiiifí a pol ol liis iiiimislakable lea -
lile ieeip(< reinaiiis a seciel. hiil llie
aroma lakes me liaek lo several din'er'eiil
|)ei'¡(id.s ol liis work w íiielí I lia\c liad llie
oppoilimilv lo lollow closeK o\i'i' lile
xcai's. Uaeliid Koraiehi s woik has
spaimed deeades and all arlisiie
ealegories IVom eleliiiig lo lapeslrv. silk
lo eerannes. paiiiliiia lo sciilpliiri' aiid
iiislallalioiis.
] le slai'ls li\ piekiiig up ihe llifead o I
a loiii; conxcrsalioii wliicli wc liad ¡ii
I lavaiia s ealliedial s(|iiai-e lasl Mav,
diirin<; llie Si.xlli Biemiial. Iii liis \ c i\
rapid Freiii'li. willioiil pau.siiiu lor hrealli
(as il he leared he wDuhl nm oul ol lime
lo sav e\ei'vlli¡iii: he wanled). he lells me
dial iiow. al lasl. al llie lamoiis Le (iliéiie
kiliis iii iieinhlioriiii; Ardiize. he liiialK
has ihe ehaiiee lo reiiiake ihi' 21
iiionimieiilal iinis wliicli were deslroxcd
ihe l'irsl lime rouiid. lie liad oii<;iiiall\
iiiade lliein ¡ii llie (iiiellala workshops iii
Djeilia. ¡II aii ahiiosl liilihcal aliiiosplieic
oí peace and sereinU. lar Ironi lile
i'idwds ol loiirlsls. i3\ aulnnm I')')-) llie\
liad alreadx lieen palnled and were ¡n llie
kllii. rile inirieale. delailed eallimapln
cox'eriiif; ihe unís reprodnced llie saered
le.xis ol' ihe ureal 12''' eeiiinry Sull
niasler lliii al ,'\rali¡. aiilhor oí o\er 4()()
hooks whicli liear wilness lo his opeii
spiril. lii.s loleranee and proloimd
nivslieism. Iliii al .Vrahi also lixcd in
Andahicia liel'oi'e erossiiifí llie
Medilerianean and reinaininii iii S\ ria
imlil his di'alli.
- I liad heen working oii ihe nriis for
.several nionlhs. I liad shapeil tlieiii on llie
wlieel. wailed for llieiii lo d r \ . and iheii.
al'ler llii> l'irsl ririiig. I painled like erazv
íor days on ciid iiiilil all ilie siirfaees were
eovered in Ihn al Aralii s liesl (e.xis,
allernaliim wilh desigiis based on signs
and sNinlidls. .MI 21 mus were in llie
liiige kiliis al (liiellala wlieii snddenlv,
dial Hepleinher in !''''."). in a región
wliere il liad iiol rained l'or foiii' vcars.
aí<gpK^.C2
V5».53^^^^^\
! » , _ _ _ ,
"tuaiaiaaaíar
Uíieliid KDJ'ÍIÍCIIÍ. I í)ilf Índigo. ]'U\Í\Í DII sil
200 .\ .iOO cin. I ' I K I I O : D.K.
lliere was llie mosl lerrilic raiiislorní in
lile midflle oí ihe iiiglil. 1 wa.s woken bv
lile sKiriii al inidnighl and I ran lo the
kilns wliere ihc iirns liad beeii bakiiifí l'or
lliree davs. jnsl praviiig llial lliose hiige
kiln.s wliielí liad lield onl siiice Homaii
limes woiild make il Üarough the storin.
Bill even liefore I got there, I could see
(liat lile roof of ihe workshop had caved
in eomplelelv. Inside. llie kilns were
lolallv deslroNcd: evervtiiing was jiist a
big iimddv mess.
riie nexl da\ al breakfast time,
people slari ai'ri\ing al llie hoiise. The
mayor of San Qiienlin. w lio has been
eonsislenllv re-eleeled l'or llie lasl 12
years and is ihe dri\iiig loree behind llie
\illage s IraiLsíormation into a cerainics
center. Also. a pholographer. a joiiniaüsl
lidiii .\íiii(>s. and several friends. There
are plans for a Irip lo iieighboring
Ardiize. lo llie workshop wliere Raeliid
has rebuilt the 21 iinis. He explaiiis:
There /.v un age-old Inidi/ion of
cenunies Itere, lliey ii.seil lo iniike llie .vo-called
"/r/.vf'.v rl'^irhize". irliielí irere oiie
(iiiil (I IKII/ /iielcr.s ttilí. eoiiuiii.s.Hloncd /jr
lleniy II in llie 16 eenliiry. Slraiigelv,
lliey irere iinide hy Prole.sitinl ceroiiii.sl.s
(111(1 .so. ¡olloiring llieír (li.sdp/x'oronee
(ifler llie l'.diel of .\(iiile.s. llieir
iiKiiiiiJdcliire iro.s (ip/xireitlly clooined.
Bul liro eeiiliirie.s liiler, il was broiií;lil lo
lije (igdin.
.lean Pierre Ohassériaii. a descendent
ol Ingres s mosl famoiis diseiple. shows
lis a ])ieee froiii dial period. Il is a lillle
eliipped l)iil llie eharaelerislie lloral iiiolif
reniains iiilael.
The 21 iirns slanrl hefore iis. freshlv
paiiiled. riie elay is slill slighllv damp.
and lliey are rcady lo go baek in the kilii.
There are 21 of llieni beeause Raehid's
work alwavs revolves aroiind llie inimber
-y AA-
laclnil Koraiflii.
7. TIu-v are 1'40 inetors Uill willi a
iliariii'tcr ol 70 ciii. \\\c\ aic Inilv
iiiauriiricciil.
— l(í paiiil llicm. I pul lliciii upside
(lown aiul alwavs slarl al llie l)o1loin. 1
(Ion t iiiake aiiv |)r('paratorv SIÍKÜCS - a(
iiKisi I rniulil luiNc a lew joltiiif^.s al liand
¡II iii\ nolcljook. As ¡11 lli(> ('(rlniífis.
Aral)¡c ¡s \\i'¡li('n íroiii Icfl lo riglil rallicr
lliaii i¡ulil lo Icll. I use llic sciilciircs
alidiil (l¡\ ¡lie lo\r. 1OI(M;IIII-C and
íi'¡i'iiilsli¡p amona all iiii'ii wini'li Ihii al
Aral)¡ s|)n'ad lliroiiulionl llir Islaiinc
woild ¡n llie 12 conlurv. froni Al-
Andaliis lo S\r¡a.
— Anil whal alxiiil llic sipnsí'
— One Icads iiic lo anollicr, oiie
üfiíH'c lo lile iicxl. coinplclcK
sponlaiH'oiislv hccaiisc I lr\ lo lind a sorl
ol halancr ol lonii.s.
\ \ lien I ask lilin \\li\ lliii al Aialii lie
icplics:
— Bccaiisc lie shoiild lie a poinl ol'
rcIVrcncc iiow ilial pli¡loM)pli\.
Iiimianilics and llic ,sliid\- olOilici-ciilliircs
is incrcashijíK i'xcliidcd IVoin (lir
i-diicalion ol NOIIIIÍÍ pcoplc. iiol onl\ ¡n
in\' coiniliN. Alücria. hiil cxci'vwlicii' i'lsc.
Siiicc liidi'piMidciH'c. M-liool syllahiiscs iii
Aliícria are Icrrililc. TIICN i'xchide
('\'('r\ llniíí;. iiol iiiiK ex i'i\ llihig iclalcd lo
i'rcncli i'iillinc. bul also all ollicr nalive
cnllnií's liki' llic i^crhcis. llic Twari'U'.s.
llir Mozahilcs... Sincc llic iiiass
icinsialcincnl ol'Aiabic in 1')()2 lols of
rundaiiieiilalisl leachcrs wcrc hntiiglu in
Irom Nasser's Ejívpl. hccaiisr llic scliools
wcii- llioiiiílil lo be lai'king {|iialiíicd slalT
lo Icacli in Arabii'. I5iil bccaiisc lliex
lailcd lo nndcislaiid llic role l'rciic-li
coiild pla\ in llic dillnsion ol Arabii'
cnlluii-s. llii'\ siinpK íonahí il cloak-and-daííiíPi'.
ll Hol lo lile poinl wlicic llic
rliildrcn. iiiidcr llic iiiíliicncc ol ilicsc
l'anaUcal leaclicrs. nscd lo rcpoil llicir
paiíuits Cor spcakiiií; Irciicli so ilial
approprialc mcasiircs coiild be lakcn.
lili' riindanirnlalisl inovrmcnl is íiill oí
voniií;' pcoplr wlio wcic cdiicalrd in lilis
\ \ a \ . And llicir o\\ n pairnls are so
Icrriíicd dial. I'or cxanipli'. CNCII lliosc
wlio ncM'r iiscd lo rcspcrl llic Rainadan,
lunv kecp lo il slriclU- onl ol Icar.
Rac.liid Koraichi (Viii I5cda. 1'M:') is
onc ol' dio inost iinporlanl lisiiircs in
(•()iil('inporar\ Alucrian arl. Ilis cai'K
work ccnlcrcd aronnd llic inlinilc
\arialioiis in Arable eall¡urapli\. Irealiiiü
eaelí eliaraeler as aii indi\ ¡dual aiid
oblaiiuiiíí ¡inages ol'eonsiderable slrenglli
and expressixc power. Ilis Elrliiníis froiii
líiilc (an iinpress¡\c ser¡es ol eleli¡n<;s
erowned b\ a beanlUiii. large-seale s¡lk
painliiiü) are inore llke eliaplers of a
diaiN in wliielí Koraielii rexciils bis \vy\
fertile memory. Despite evoking events
and people from the past, he voluntarily
renounces nostalgia for days gone by,
remaining firm in his belief that there are
things which never die but which, like the
phoenix, rise from their own ashes time
and time again.
It is difficult to know what to admire
most in Rachid Koraichi: the perfection
of his technique as a highly accomphshed
etcher, his passion for writing or the
expressive power of his images. Ahhough
he started out using the beautiful,
intricate forms of traditional calHgraphy.
making each sign or symbol reminisceiii
of a certain figure or character, he sooii
widened his horizons and extended his
highly versatile creative domain to
include ceramics and textiles.
The steles, the stone and metal
pvramids positioned like suggestive
installations, the ceramic muráis
integrated into architecture, the painted
silks and magnificent tapestries and, of
course, the impressive etchings; these are
all milestones of a unique coUection of
work in which East and West, tradition
and modernity, all converge in one of the
most relevant figures of contemporary
art, by which I do not refer solely to
contemporary North African art.
***
— Your life has not been easv. You spent
your childhood under military oppression
and when Algeria finally gained
independence, the problems worsened
until they culminated in today's horrific
situation. Were you happy as a child?
— I was named Rachid after the
founders of the Kaaba, the Rashitas, the
ñame of the prophet. I was born in the
Aurés región, which was marked by the
War of Independence, and as a child I
witnessed the worst atrocities. Alongside
my brothers, I saw my father being
tortured and my grandmother's house
ransacked. I studied Latin and Greek at
the Classics Liceo in Constantine. The
teachers were French and I soon learned
that not all French people were the same:
there were teachers who belonged to the
OAS and others who were really great
with US. Then I went to the Academy of
Fine Arts in Algiers: an excellent school
in a beautiful new, modem building
overlooking the city, surrounded by park
land. The teachers, who were artists, are
now my friends. It was a golden age; the
líachid Koriiiclii.
age of the Black Panthers, of Carmichael,
of Che. Algiers hosted the Pan African
Festival which encouraged black
American artists to come into contact
directly with African artists. At that time,
Algiers was a sort of flagship, a meeting
place for freedom movements. The city
had it all: it was sensual, humane and
full of cultural resources. It could have
been the California of África. Not by
chance is it the geographical center of the
world.
— All that, of course, was during
Algeria's first independent government,
led by Ben Bella.
— The worst thing about the
Algerian war, which lasted 8 years from
1954 to 1962, is that the page was
tumed too quickiy on it. There were so
many massacres, more than a thousand
casualties, countless people missing, and
the communist leaders were eliminated
without a trace. But there were no
prosecutions, no triáis or convictions
whatsoever. Nobody ever took the trouble
to declare that these atrocities should
never happen again. Nobody was proven
guilty, nobody admitted responsibilitA'
and many of those who were guilty
continued in power.
***
— Where did vou get the idea of
painting huge ceramic urns?
— The Cultural Center in Berlin and
the Museum of Granada invited me, and
nine other artists, to take part in the
opening ceremony of Granada's first
Archaeological Museum, in April 1995.
I asked them which was the first piece to
have been found during the excavations
and they showed me a wonderful um,
\\ liich seemed to me to be a good symbol
111' the origins of the Mediterranean.
It reminded me of Tarek Ibn Zyad's
famous words on arriving on Andalucian
shores ("Behind us is the sea and before
US, the enemy"), and also of León the
African's voyage, from Granada to Djerba,
skirting North África. This was exactly the
same journey that I had just made, but
the other way round: from Djerba to
Granada. It was not the first time I had
been intrigued by ceramics. I had already
used the technique in a 38 meter long wall
for a building in Algiers. Back in 1983,
I was commissioned to créate a mural
painting and I realized that only ceramics
would stand up to the passing of time.
Why were vou commissioned to make
a tapestn' for the librarv in Limoges?
I was on the island oí' Djerba when
I heard that the City of Limoges was
holding a competition for the creation
of a large tapestrv for its Hbrarv. Despite
having a lot of work at the time,
I decided to enter straight away.
First, because tapestry is one of my
favorita techniques: I have niade manv
tapestries in Tunisia, with several
different craftsinen, especiallv one master
tapestry-maker who had trained in
Aubusson. And second because it was
commissioned for a place which is very
closelv hnked to the written word. I have
a great passion for writing, for text and
calHgraphy, as can be seen in most of my
work; I ahnost always use signs and
symbols from different regions of the
world, and from the work of friends of
mine who are writers. I was also
impressed by the fact that the
competition's organizers completely
respected the artist's freedom: unhke
most commissioned work, the theme of
this piece was of the artist's choice.
— What did it mean to you that the
city of Limoges chose you?
— I was quite overeóme that they
chose me, an African, when so many local
governments are pro-exclusion. I was
born in the Aurés but Paris is mv second
spiritual home. Speaking French is verv
important for me, it is an unquestionable
link between two cultures which are verv
differem yet enrich each other through
these differences. I designed my tapestry
in line with this idea, as a kind of
opening, a series of threads sewn together
in space to strengthen the links which
exist between men, whoever thev are and
wherever they come from. Creating a
piece for a French library which is
inspired bv the Blue Koran from the
Kairuán library (of which some pages are
held in London and Paris), is like a
symbol of tolerance. For the same reason
I wanted to pay homage to three writer
friends: Mohammed Dib, Michel Butor
and Rene Char.
Rachid Koraichi.
— My work has come into contact
with theirs on other occasions. I have
worked, and continué working, with
Michel Butor and Mohammed Dib. I took
part in a homage to Rene Char which
was held in Avignon's Palais des Papes in
1990, and with Michel Butor, at the
Salomé exhibition organized bv the
Georges Pompidou Center in Paris that
same year. At the moment 1 am working
on an álbum of lithographs and hand-written
illustrated texts with Mohammed
Dib. I wanted to intégrate texts by these
three authors into the Limoges tapestry,
both in French and in Arabio, rewriting
the letters and symbols back-to-front so
that it could only be read with the help of
a mirror.
— Apart from paying homage to
these writer friends, what is the meaning
behind this piece?
— I have tried to reflect in the
tapestry my love for books, for paper,
manuscripts, the sheer smell and color of
ink. I designed it in the image of the Blue
Koran of Kairuán, like a large, Índigo
blue page which absorbs the light; a great
embroidered or illustrated page, with
golden silk radiating color. I avoided any
kind of decorative elements and kept to a
strict linear composition: an assemblage
reminiscent of the library shelves, full of
signs in ancient Greek, Latin, Arabio,
Tuareg, Sumerian, Egyptian and
Babylonian. An evocation of the relief
sculptures of King Darius, and of the
Elamites, the Oíd Testament and the
Bhágavata Purana and a reflection, in
filigree, of the square composition of the
two Román mosaics situated in the
middle of the library. I have also used
various symbols which are dear to me,
and which can be found in all cultures:
the sun, the crescent moon, the star
(to guide the shepherd, sailor or reader),
boats (voyages), spirals (the dynamism
of life), pyramids (existence), a raised
hand (peace), fish (eternal life), the heart
(spirituality), the tree (original unity).
I hope that all those who contémplate the
tapestry will be able to find their own
wishes in it, and also a reply to those
wishes.