Charif Benhelima

Biography Charif Benhelima (Brussels, 1967)
Charif Benhelima lives and works in Antwerp and Berlin. His Polaroids and analog photography present highly personalized images that investigate notions of time, identity, memory/oblivion, document, and truth. Nominated for the Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography in 2008 (Harvard University/Peabody Museum), Benhelima’s diverse aesthetic, formal, and conceptual research nevertheless composes a coherent and singular oeuvre.
In 2005, Benhelima’s work was shown at Witte de With as part of the group exhibition Monopolis – Antwerp, organized in collaboration with three contemporary art centres in Antwerp: MuHKA, Extra City, and Objectif Exhibitions.
Solo exhibitions include Welcome to Belgium, Museum of Modern Art, Oostende (1999); Today’s Heroes, Flanders House, London (2003); I was, I am – 1999-2002, Gallery Kusseneers , Antwerp (2004); Semites, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2005); Harlem on my mind, V-editie, Antwerp (2007); Roots I, Crown Gallery, Brussels (2008) and Roots II, The Bag Factory, Johannesburg (2009).
Selected group shows include Mimésis, Extra City – Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2008); Nós, Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro (2008); A Story of the Image: Visual Art as Visual Culture, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore (2009); Fading, Musee d’Ixelles, Brussels (2009); and Belgian Spot, Centre for Culture and Contemporary Art, Bangkok (2010).