By exploring the paradox of the sacred. mundane I am interested in capturing instants of everyday life: little details, atmospherics, colours, forms, sensations, and I then seek to understand how sacrality operates in this level.
From the effect of rain on glass, to the transformation of a landscape through light, shadow, and movement, my work is always in the search of the divine in the simplest form. In a world where war, hate, sadness, intolerance, poverty, abuse, fear, violence and many negative events make the front page of the newspapers and TV programs, I believe that peace is a major topic. But how can we pretend to work on peace, if inside we have to deal with our own violence, hate, and fears?
Through my journey, I discovered that first of all, I have to make peace with myself, and make all my surroundings more peaceful. Art has always been the vehicle of my thoughts and feelings, so I started to work on pieces that would bring more calm to my existence: I have completed works of contemplation, of awareness, of the beauty in small and unnoticed things, of nature, light, water, sky and air.
Aziza was born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1966. After gaining her Master’s degree in international marketing in Germany, she moved to Mexico in 1992 where she currently lives with her Mexican husband and her three children. Aziza Alaoui has paticipated in more than 60 exhibitions throughout the world, and has received several international scholarships and awards. Her work has been published in more than 30 catalogues and many art magazines, press and book covers in many countries. Because of her international background, Aziza Alaoui finds it difficult to understand that culture, language, beliefs or any differences can be a reason for separating people and creating conflict.
For Aziza, differences are incredibly enriching. Having experienced discrimination against women, she felt the need to destroy the wall of racism and prejudice and bring understanding and peace to the hearts of people, in order to make clear to everybody that there is good and bad everywhere, and that it is our task to pick the good from everyone, and to understand the reasons and background for behaviours different than ours. Peace has been the center of her work. First inside, through contemplation and awareness expressed in her paintings, etchings, sculptures, videos and installations. In her projects, Aziza Alaoui likes to integrate society as a whole, working always with museums, universities, cultural institutions and especially with children.
“Le Printemps” (Spring) is a painting where time is frozen. It invites the spectator to stay still and reflect for a moment, as if studying a landscape viewed from a very close perspective, of a viewing rain drops. In so doing, the viewer will notice that each rain drop is different; each raindrop has its own life, its own shape, its own colors, and even its own shadow… and slowly, he will feel a warm feeling of inner peace…Peace, for me, means awareness.
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