Once again, one of our compatriots, Leila Alaoui, was killed by a horrific terrorist crime.
The 33-year-old French-Moroccan photographer succumbed to her injuries after the attack in Ouagadougou last Sunday while she was making a photo report for Amnesty International.
Between a photographic writing of great maturity and an ethical commitment of a rare humanity, Leila Alaoui defined herself above all as «an activist of the human cause».
It is this cause that she served with passion, notably through the series «The Moroccans», large format photographic portraits, objects of a large exhibition at the European House of Photography (MEP) that had just closed its doors. Developing a work of archivist, Leila Alaoui had already exhibited her work in many places, be it Art Dubai or the Arab World Institute, as part of the First Biennial of Photographers of the Arab World.
Thanks to the intelligence of her acute gaze, which crossed the gangue of false pretenses – Leila Alaoui knew, like the great ones, these Robert Frank or Richard Avedon whose photographic work she admired more than any other, go where the criminals didn’t want her to go: beyond appearances.
I extend my support and condolences to his family.