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The big picture: Hicham Benohoud frames the classroom as theatre

While working as an art teacher in the 90s, the Moroccan photographer collaborated with his students to play with the confines of the educational systemNo doubt you can sympathise with at least one of the pupils in the image. She has her head down, working hard, so bowed in thought her face is almost pressed right against her paper. A few seats down, a boy adopts a similar pose. One girl has her ankles crossed, while another has hers splayed. Across the room, one girl’s shoes are practical, while another’s are oddly adult, sandals with heels, hand-me-downs, maybe. You remember how imagination allowed you to disappear, to escape, to take leave of the four walls of the classroom, of the uncomfortable wooden chair and desk at which you tried not to fidget.Or were you the boy breaking the peace, wild and unruly, hanging over a table while lying flat on your stomach, legs dangling, fixing us with your cheeky gaze, as in this image from the Moroccan photographer Hicham Benohoud’s book The...



Hicham Benohoud's "Classroom" photography series, taken between 1994-2000, depicts Moroccan students using creative play to redefine their stifling educational environment. The black-and-white images show students experimenting with chairs, tables, and paper cutouts to express self-authorship and explore post-colonial identity within a traditional curriculum.

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