Ferhat Bouda

Ferhat
Bouda

biography

Portrait-Ferhat Bouda_2014_Kiên Hoàng Lê

Algerian photographer, member of Agence VU’ since 2014, based in Frankfürt (Germany)

Born in 1976 in Kabylia (Algeria), Ferhat Bouda grew up in Bouzeguen (Tizi-Ouzou). In 1994, the “satchel strike” launched by the Berber Cultural Movement (MCB) pushed him to work for the recognition of the Berber identity. Ferhat Bouda then explored different avenues to document it and share its specificities: first theater and music, then cinema, which led him to settle in France in 2000, and finally photography, which proved to be perfectly adapted to his sensitivity and commitment, and for which he decided to study in Paris.

Ferhat Bouda then began a long-term work on Berber culture and nomadic peoples; a photographic investigation that he developed in France and Germany (where he settled in 2005), as well as in Algeria, Morocco, Libya with the Berber rebels, in Tunisia after the fall of Ben Ali, and in the north of Mali with the Tuaregs.

Focusing on looks, attitudes and people, both in their daily lives and in conflict situations, Ferhat Bouda is part of a tradition of documentary photography, and respectfully testifies to complex situations that are often difficult to approach or, too often, hidden under clichés and stereotypes.

Winner of the Pierre and Alexandra Boulat grant in 2016, and of the prize and the photography grant of the Berlin Academy of Arts in 2020, his work is regularly published in the international press, exhibited in Algeria, Germany and France, and presented at festivals of documentary photography.

Series

Chad, climate change, 2021

series | The Kanem region of Chad - and more broadly the southern Sahel - is increasingly affected by drought and the subsequent water stress.

Ferhat Bouda séries

As It Was 2020

On 12 March 2020, I returned to Germany after working on a reportage in Algeria. Two days later, our world seemed to have collapsed, in global quarantine because of the Coronavirus. In most countries, the choice was made for a total cessation of activity and strict lock down of the entire population.

Ferhat Bouda séries

« Tajmaât », Un modèle ancestral de démocratie participative Kabyle, 2020

Tajmâat is a Kabyle term for the public place and its root means to gather. In Kabylia the Tajmâat is a small agora on the scale of a village. Current affairs are managed there, we meet there to resolve conflicts, discuss and take decisions.

Ferhat Bouda séries

Aboard the Outback Train, 2019

From the harsh winters of the south coast to the subtropical heat of the north, from the beautiful neighborhoods of Adelaide to the crocodile breeding grounds of Darwin, a railway line stretches 3,000 kilometers vertically across Australia.

Ferhat Bouda séries

Berbers, Resisting And Defending Their Culture (work in progress), 2019

Unrecognized, dispersed, marginalized, the Berbers are everywhere and have long been threatened in their identity and culture. The Imazighen (plural of Amazigh, "free man"), as they should be called to avoid the colonial term Berber, are imposing themselves as a culture in resistance.

Ferhat Bouda séries

Walking the Way of the Explorers of Adrar (Mauritania), 2019

Historic heart of Mauritania, Adrar is a vast mountainous and desert region, where sand and wind shape the landscape, 450 km northeast of the capital Nouakchott.

Ferhat Bouda séries

Funeral of Hocine Ait Ahmed, 2015

Hocine Aït Ahmed, born in 1925 in Kabylia and died in 2015 in Lausanne, Switzerland, was an Algerian politician and historical leader of the Algerian Liberation Front which, after Algeria's independence, embodied the figure of the irreducible opponent to the various powers in place.

Ferhat Bouda séries

Oran, in the Footsteps of Kamel Daoud, 2015

In the city of Oran, the photographer Ferhat Bouda went to meet the Algerian journalist and intellectual Kamel Daoud, who confides in Algeria and the "radiant city". Between the man and the city, an astonishing closeness is woven.

Ferhat Bouda séries

Northern Mali, with the MNLA Soldiers, 2014

Fehrat Bouda accompanied the Tuareg rebels to their fief: the region of Kidal, in North Mali, 1200 kilometers from Bamako.

Ferhat Bouda séries

After the Dzud - Mongolia, 2010

For centuries, the Mongolian people have adapted a pastoral way of life by moving around in search of the best pastures and camps. While they live by and for the animals, the number of nomads has decreased sharply, especially in the last two years.

Home-Réalisations Ferhat Bouda séries