The question of light as the raw material of photography has been at the centre of Mustapha Azeroual's research for several years. Taken by simple flashes on the photosensitive surface, the Monade series attempts to fix the light which, by definition, is invisible and impalpable. Through these repeated flash impacts at different intervals of time, the artist invites the viewer into a visual dynamic, reinforced by the gum bichromate printing technique which brings density and matter to the surface of the work. Mustapha Azeroual confirms here his remarkable ability to use this ancient process, inherited from the 19th century, which he develops in polychromy and according to a rather unusual colour palette, partly composed of fluorescent pigments. By playing with this accumulation of layers of light and coloured pigments, the artist makes every effort to sculpt and reify light, the subject and object of the series. Suddenly, light, which by nature escapes us, seems to materialise.
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Mustapha Azeroual A scientist by training, his work is based on observation and experimentation experimentation, confronting the historical techniques of shooting and printing to the contemporary with the contemporary issues of photography. Questioning the tools the process of appearance and the supports, the artist privileges above all the point of view of the spectator.
