Charif Benhelima (BELGIAN, B. 1967)

Charif Benhelima lives and works in Antwerp and Berlin. His Polaroids and analog photography present highly personalized images that investigate notions of time, identity, memory/oblivion, document, and truth. Nominated for the Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography in 2008 (Harvard University/Peabody Museum), Benhelima's diverse aesthetic, formal, and conceptual research nevertheless composes a coherent and singular oeuvre. In 2005, Benhelima's work was shown at Witte de With as part of the group exhibition Monopolis - Antwerp, organized in collaboration with three contemporary art centres in Antwerp: MuHKA, Extra City, and Objectif Exhibitions. Solo exhibitions include Welcome to Belgium, Museum of Modern Art, Oostende (1999); Today's Heroes, Flanders House, London (2003); I was, I am - 1999-2002, Gallery Kusseneers, Antwerp (2004); Semites, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2005); Harlem on my mind, V-editie, Antwerp (2007); Roots I, Crown Gallery, Brussels (2008) and Roots II, The Bag Factory, Johannesburg (2009). Selected group shows include Mimsis, Extra City, Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2008); Ns, Museu da Repblica, Rio de Janeiro (2008); A Story of the Image: Visual Art as Visual Culture, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore (2009); Fading, Musee d'Ixelles, Brussels (2009); and upcoming Belgian SpotCentre for Culture and Contemporary Art, Bangkok (2010).