In Le Havre, Algerian photographer Ferhat Bouda warns of the threats weighing on Berber culture

The Le Havre university library is hosting the exhibition “Imazighen. Berbers, a culture in resistance” by photographer Ferhat Bouda until May 18.

Himself a Kabyle, one of the ethnic groups that form the Berber people, Ferhat Bouda began extensive work in 2004 on the Imazighen, free men, the original name of the Berbers. A group of indigenous peoples of North Africa, present over a vast territory extending from Mauritania to Egypt, and including Morocco and Algeria, where the majority of the population lives today. Amazigh population.

Several ethnic groups, but the same culture, singular and plural. Little-known and increasingly threatened culture, which the photographer has chosen to highlight. He went to meet these communities, some now sedentary, or even nomadic, in the mountains or in the desert.

For almost 20 years, Ferhat Bouda followed in the footsteps of his own Berber roots, like an initiatory journey, sharing the daily life of his populations, whose language, traditions, way of life, are increasingly threatened, and who resist the hostility of states, forced Arabization, but also radical Islamism.

Invited in 2017 to exhibit at the festival Visa for Image in Perpignan, Ferhat Bouda spoke of the dangers that religious fanaticism posed to the Berbers, a united and tolerant people: “In a village, in a community, there are several religions, but people have always cohabited, they live together, without waging wars because of religion. And I find that to be of great value in today’s world.“.

“Imazighen. Berbers, a culture in resistance”, until May 18, 2024. University Library, 10 Rue Philippe Lebon 76600 Le Havre. Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. FREE ENTRANCE.