A 2023 graduate of Villa Arson, Gil Lekh is in residence at Le 18 in Marrakech from October 11 to November 22, 2024.
Gil Lekh
An artist-researcher based in Marseille, Gil Lekh draws inspiration from a diverse background: alternately a gymnast, construction worker, organizer of socio-cultural events, punk, researcher, activist, and climbing instructor.
Gil Lekh’s work lies between research and affective, political, and social exploration. His multiple experiences shape his identity and influence his work. Coming from construction, urban areas, and punk culture, he uses their objects and materials. He thus composes a materiology stemming from habitation, made of glass, plaster, iron, testing them through collective gestures, photography, fanzines, research texts, and poetic writing.
The Residency
During his residency at Le 18 in Marrakech, Gil Lekh develops research work on artistic practices related to memories and imaginaries of colonial experiences in Morocco. This is the first part of a research project that also extends to the territories of former Indochina, the Maghreb, and France.
This residency allows him to meet people from the Moroccan-Vietnamese diaspora, from his own family from the Algerian and Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora, and to investigate his Vietnamese origins.
Gil Lekh pays particular attention to the subject of postmemory, a term used by Marianne Hirsch to describe the relationship that the ‘generation after’ maintains with the cultural, collective, and personal trauma experienced by those who preceded them.
To explore subjects such as transmission and trauma inherited from colonial history in individual and collective narratives, Gil Lekh creates sculptures, installations, and activates spaces for reflection and sharing.
Le 18
A multidisciplinary cultural space dedicated to research, creation, encounter, mutual learning, and knowledge sharing, Le 18 has been hosting artists in residence in the medina of Marrakech since 2013.
Miramar
Miramar is a Mediterranean network of academic, artistic, and cultural actors that aims to support the professional development of young artists and art workers, and to create opportunities for cultural exchanges based on solidarity, reciprocity, and hospitality.
In 2024, the program offers six residencies in the Mediterranean to graduates of the eight member institutions of the L’École(s) du Sud network.
Miramar is funded by the Institut français du Maroc, the Institut français de Tunisie, Xarkis NGO, and L’École(s) du Sud.
