Mon Bougainvillier est dans un sommeil profond

Tiohtià:ke/Montréal
London
Alger
Paris

Berirouche Feddal
studio@berirouche.ca

Born in Rouiba in 1996 and raised between Algiers and Irdjen, his parents’ Kabyle village, Berirouche Feddal was ten when he landed in Pointe-aux-Trembles, at the eastern tip of Tiohtià:ke. He now works between Montréal, London and Algiers, and is pursuing an MFA at Goldsmiths. His practice is a souk where nothing settles: abstract and figurative, object and performance, war and colour, Pan-Africanism and its violence. Stadium chants become protest songs; gold and wheat ask to be worshipped. He works with what time leaves behind: rusted objects, henna rusting in the elders' hair, relics of childhood that hide inherited horrors. Kardoune, devotional symbols and burned wood carry the voices of parents and villagers, the afterlives of colonial history, the ghosts that refuse to leave. His colour began underfoot, on his grandmother's carpets. His work talks to the dead, leaves space empty, and allows itself to forget.

CV

PRESS

Dans les plis du souvenir, les couleurs se taisentVie des arts, no. 279, Winter 2025VisitesText: Dounia Bouzidi

Fleurs fanées: Anna Binta Diallo et Berirouche FeddalVie des arts, no. 275, Summer 2024Créations

L'art de recycler des bouts de muséeLe Devoir, April 24, 2024Text: Stéphane Baillargeon

La révolution des couleursLe Devoir, March 30, 2024Text: Amélie RevertPhoto: Adil Boukind

Dans l'atelier de Berirouche FeddalEsse arts + opinions, no. 110, AgricultureText: Nicholas DawsonPhotos: Alexandra Dumais

VIDEOS

▶ Play

la clarté creuse les montagnes, 2026Musée d'art de JolietteCurated by Ariane De BloisWith asinnajaq, Nathalie Batraville, Stina Baudin, Amanda Boulos, Shannon Garden-Smith, Frantz Patrick Henry and Tyson Houseman

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Afrotopos, 2025Stewart Hall GalleryCurated by Diane GistalWith Damien Ajavon, Delali Cofie, Anna Binta Diallo, Marie-Danielle Duval, ibiyanε and Roxane Mbanga

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Textile Beyond Craft, 2023Round table: Reflections on the Montreal SceneCentre de design UQAMModerated by Christina ContandriopoulosWith Édith-Anne Pageot and Michaëlle Sergile

▶ Play

Spoliation du souk, 2022Conseil des arts de MontréalCurated by Michelle Caron and Colas Eko

PODCAST

Conjuguer les identités qui nous habitentIn/Tension, The Power Plant, 2023Hosted by Diane GistalWith Anna Binta Diallo42 min

▶ Listen

Mon Bougainvillier est dans un sommeil profond 2024

BACK

McBride Contemporain is pleased to present Mon Bougainvillier est dans un sommeil profond, a solo exhibition by transdisciplinary artist Berirouche Feddal. Feddal’s singular pictorial language, drawing on the visual poetry that permeates his works, is distinguished by a recognizable use of colour as a means of expression. The current exhibition pays tribute to pink, more specifically the warm hue evoked by bougainvillea leaves, a floral tree with deeply rooted symbolism in North African cultures.

The blossoming of the buds on the Bougainvillea tree marked the beginning of movements united by revolutionary hope in the spring of 2010. They also represent an acknowledgement of the martyr Mohamed Bouazizi, whose sacrifice was a catalyst for the resistance movement. Feddal’s richly referenced presentation, navigating between the poles of life and death, is intended as a tribute to human dignity and social justice. In the exhibition space, artworks in diverse mediums resonate with Feddal’s personal history and Kabyle heritage rooted in the land of contemporary Algeria. As a central piece, a reproduction of the artist’s head appears to be plunged into a peaceful sleep, resting on a cushion once stroked by his paternal grandmother, echoing the fine line between sleep and ultimate rest.

The wood engravings recall the familiar hues of Feddal’s previous body of work that features depictions of his immediate family as well as emblematic political figures and cultural iconography. Rooted in these significant figures, Feddal’s creations expose the fragility of the material, the profound power of memory, and the relentless passage of time. Like a nostalgic reminder of Feddal’s childhood, a faded Nouara pastry wrapper lies next to canvases evoking mortality, creating a scene that oscillates between dreamlike and funerary allegories. In this way, the colour becomes an emotional messenger, conveying a poetry that emanates from its delicacy.

Mon Bougainvillier est dans un sommeil profond offers an immersive experience of the union between past and present, exploring time as an agent of decay and transformation, shaping objects, colours, and their symbolism. This exhibition subtly captures the collective unconscious, exploring the concepts of time and memory while honouring the family heritage and political inspirations that have shaped Feddal’s artistic practice.

Alexandre Potvin

McBride Contemporain
Belgo Building, #414, Montréal, Canada
April 25 – June 1, 2024

Text: Alexandre Potvin

With thanks to Vincent McBride; Soad Carrier, Gallery Director; and Emma Ongman, Gallery Associate

McBride Contemporain