Moroccan artist M’barek Bouhchichi presents 'Les mains des poètes' at Foundation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar, running until 17 October 2026. The exhibition stems from a residency in Madagascar where Bouhchichi collaborated with local artisans—blacksmiths, weavers, ceramists, and musicians—to create works that resist singular authorship. Central to the show is the revival of sorabe, the Arabico-Malagasy script, treated as an embodied, gestural practice rather than fixed writing.
The exhibition matters because it challenges Western notions of authorship and archives, positioning the hand as a site of knowledge and memory. By foregrounding collaborative making with Malagasy artisans and reclaiming sorabe, Bouhchichi expands the definition of poetry and writing, linking gesture, materiality, and oral transmission. This project underscores the importance of cross-cultural exchange and the preservation of endangered scripts and craft traditions in contemporary art.