Close-up is a participative device, which, paradoxically, consists of a video without images about an image. For almost the nine minutes of its length, the artist shares her own confrontation for the first time with Courbet’s work “The Origin of the World”, as well as the reactions of some of her family members and friends after showing them that painting.
The audio is composed by a compilation of impressions, comments and anecdotes recorded and sent through different instant messaging applications. While the narration goes on, the only thing that we can see on the screen are the subtitles that translate the locutions.

The format of the video, that has the same dimensions (55 x 46 cm) as Courbet’s work (which is owned by the French state and is exhibited in the Musée d’Orsay), is framed in a wall paint in red Versailles. The solemnity and dramatism of this color contrast with the funny, light and familiar tone with which the artist calls into question what has been considered so far one of the masterpieces of art history, by highlighting issues such as censorship, social pressure, female sexuality, gender studies and artistic and sexual education today.

(FR)
Comment un tableau célèbre de l’histoire d’art occidental du 19ème siècle est interprété par des personnes marocaines de mon entourage aujourd’hui ?
Close-up est un dispositif participatif qui invite différentes personnes de mon réseau (amis, famille, artistes, …) à décrire ou commenter la peinture « l’origine du monde » de Gustave Courbet via des échanges de messages vocaux sur une application de messagerie instantanée.
De cette manière, je tente d’ouvrir une discussion autour de l’art en dehors de son contexte et avec des personnes qui ne sont parfois pas familières avec son histoire.
Close-up est surtout un moyen de parler de la chose intime et de sa représentation.