La Réunion

Soleïman Badat

Born in 1974

Lives and works in Saint-Denis, Reunion Island

Soleïman Badat’s plastic compositions are elastic and modular. His drawings and paintings use dark humour, while his photographic and videographic work adopts a more documentary posture that takes a critical look at what constitutes an event and therefore impacts our understanding of the world. His experimental research brings about a multitude of raw materials, which the artist delves into, arranges and mixes to generate “glitches” – parasites that infiltrate sound and image until the information they convey becomes “gritty” – and in doing so gives rise through its very substance to controversial and harsh subjects. Balanced between a degree of dreamy and contemplative optimism and a pragmatic awareness of their natural, societal, economic and political surroundings, Soleïman Badat’s works constantly oscillate between forms that are both resilient and chaotic, or enchanted and degenerative, and implicitly encourage a form of revolt.

Leïla Quillacq, 2020

© Adagp, Paris