Daoud Aoulad Syad, Territories of the Instant
Exhibition
A Solo Exhibition by Daoud Aoulad-Syad
This exhibition celebrates over three decades of work by Moroccan photographer and filmmaker Daoud Aoulad-Syad. Deeply intertwined with his cinematic vision and the essence of Moroccan popular culture, his photography captures the soul of his homeland, particularly its most remote regions. Since the 1990s, Aoulad-Syad has documented Moroccan landscapes, architecture, and people captured in dynamic moments, creating images that weave together visual storytelling with a subtle, timeless beauty.
©Daoud Aoulad-Syad -Bourdias, Chaouen, National Festival of Popular Arts of Marrakech June 1999
For over three decades, Daoud Aoulad-Syad has been weaving together Image and narrative, capturing the spaces where myth and everyday life converge. Through his lens, the unseen steps into view, and the margins of society become the heart of the story.
Deeply rooted in the Moroccan popular culture, Aoulad-Syad documents urban and rural settings, architectural fragments, and individuals caught in fleeting moments. His main subjects—street performers, traveling entertainers, and figures weathered by life—are portrayed without artifice. Each frame seizes an unfiltered instant, raw and immediate, often snatched from reality itself. This sense of immediacy, coupled with the visual tension of the composition, manifests in his preference for unconventional perspectives: over-the-shoulder angles, plunging views, and subjects subtly decentered within the frame. The characters, who also inhabit his films, reflect a deep sensitivity to a society in transition. His lens oscillates between the bustling energy of Marrakech’s Jemaa el Fnaa square and the quietude of remote landscapes, suggesting the interplay between fiction and reality, silence and motion, the timeless and the contemporary.
Moulay Bousselham, © Daoud Aoulad-Syad
Azemour, © Daoud Aoulad-Syad
Kelâat Megouna, © Daoud Aoulad-Syad
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Portrait , Daoud OUALAD -SYAD, Rabat, Septembre 2014.
Photographer, director and screenwriter Daoud Aoulad-Syad was born in Marrakech in 1953. After earning a PhD in Physical Sciences from the University of Nancy in 1981, he began working in the film industry after taking part in a film workshop at FEMIS in 1989.
In 1991, he directed his first short film, Mémoire Ocre. This was followed by Entre l'absence et l'oubli in 1993, and Al Oued in 1995.
He made his first feature film, Adieu Forain, in 1998, followed by Le Cheval de Vent (2001), Tarfaya (2003), En attendant Pasolini (2007), La Mosquée (2010), Les Voix du Désert (2017) and Le Lac Bleu (2025).
His photographic work has been the subject of various exhibitions, including Photomed, Sanary-sur-Mer (2013); Daba Maroc-Bruxelles, Belgium (2012); Galerie municipale du Château d'eau, Toulouse (1999); Mois de la photo de Bienne, Switzerland (1998); Museum Voor Volkenkunde, Rotterdam, Netherlands ( 1996); Musée d'Aquitaine, ARPA, Bordeaux, (1991) and at the Institut du monde arabe, Paris (1990).
He has also published four books of photographs: Marocains (1989), Boujaâd, Espace et mémoire (1999) and Territoires de l'instant (2000), Daoud Aoulad-Syad, MEP (2015).
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Photo (c) Hicham Alaoui
Meriem Berrada is an artistic director and curator. She also works as an independent consultant alongside consulting firms in cultural engineering and strategy. Her curatorial practice critically explores the intersections of art and craft in contemporary narratives.
She lives and works between Marrakech and Paris.
Between 2013 and 2018, Berrada conceived and implemented various artistic projects for the Fondation Alliances (Morocco) and directed its editions. She developed structural programs such as La Chambre Claire, a competition supporting emerging African photography, and Passerelles, a cross-sponsorship initiative that combines the cultural and social poles of the Foundation through workshops raising awareness of contemporary creation in peri-urban areas. In 2016, she developed the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech, where she took on the role of artistic director starting in 2018.
Committed to structuring the artistic ecosystem of the continent, in 2019 Meriem has developed the MACAAL Bootcamp, a training programme which combines sectoral skills and innovative modules around leadership and personal development, helping young cultural operators working in the contemporary and visual art fields in Africa to strengthen their profiles. Meriem frequently participates in mentoring programs, including Duvangu (Gabon, 2024) and NOOR Photo (2023).
Berrada was recently appointed as the artistic director of Tasweer photography festival (Qatar). In 2021, she co-curated the 13th edition of the Rencontres de Bamako Biennale de la photographie Africaine, and the head curator of the exhibitionWhat is forgotten and what remains at the National Museum of Immigration History – Palais de la Porte Dorée, as part of the Africa2020 cultural season. She is also part of several juries: British Journal of photography OpenWalls (UK), Artagon-Enowe price (France), and the selection committee of Regards du Grand Paris 6 - CNAP X ATELIERS MÉDICIS.
In 2020, Meriem has been selected in the 40 under 40 Apollo art magazine list of the most influential and talented people in the art world born or based in Africa and in the French ranking 100 Femmes de Culture.
She has taken part in several lectures such as: « Museums Round Table » San Francisco (2023) « The Future of Africa-based Curatorial Practice » Harvard, Cambridge (2022) the Africa Creative Industries Summit 2021 (Atlantic Council- Washington, DC).
VENUES & LOCATIONS
Image Courtesy of Qatar Museums
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Project Space)
Founded in 2010, Mathaf is situated in a renovated former school building in Education City, established by Qatar Foundation (QF), under the leadership of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. Mathaf is part of Qatar Museums, led by H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
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