Yto Barrada

Yto Barrada was born in 1971 in Paris. She lives and works between New York and Tangier.

Barrada is an artist recognized for her multidisciplinary investigations of cultural phenomena, historical narratives, and family myths. Her practice encompasses film, photography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, textiles and publishing, while her installations often comprises both original work and found objects. Engaging with archival practices and public interventions in a playful way, the artist uncovers subaltern histories and celebrates everyday forms of reclaiming autonomy.

Her work has been widely exhibited in institutional venues such as Tate Modern (London), MoMA (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon), Secession (Vienna), MACBA (Barcelona). Barrada’s work has won numerous awards including the 2022 Mario Merz Prize and the 2022 Queen Sonya Print Award.

A mid-career retrospective of Barrada’s work is currently on view in winter 2022 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. 

She founded the non-profit Cinémathèque de Tanger in 2006, and remains the president of North Africa’s first cinema cultural center. Recently, Barrada has been leading a new team in launching The Mothership, an eco-feminist farm and residency, centered around a dye garden.

Yto Barrada is represented by Pace Gallery, Galerie Sfeir-Semler, and Galerie Polaris.