After spending years in a corporate job, Seif Kousmate transitioned back to his true passion: photography. Through it, he has traveled the world, merging photography with journalism. Today, his art primarily focuses on subjects related to Morocco, his country of origin. Men vs. Fathers is the project he is presenting for the Prix Elysée 2025, where he explores his relationship with his father and, through it, the topic of masculinity.
Seif Kousmate
1988, Morocco
Nominee
- Prix Elysée 2025
Seif Kousmate (MA, 1988) is a visual artist born in Essaouira and living in Tangier, Morocco. In 2014, he quit his career in civil engineering and bought his first camera at 26. As a self-taught artist, he began his photographic journey by exploring documentary photography, with the aim of capturing the diverse realities of marginalization in Africa. His early projects served as a platform for the narratives of post-genocide Rwandan youth, Haratins formerly enslaved in Mauritania, and sub-Saharan migrants in search of a better life in Europe.
In Morocco, Seif Kousmate has been focusing on Boujloud celebrations and documenting life in the Atlas Mountains facing climate change. His series Waha ةحاو, a four-year essay on the oases and the changes they are undergoing, will soon be published in book form. Seif Kousmate’s artistic practice has evolved over the past decade, gradually pushing back the boundaries of photography, to the intersection with contemporary art. His upcoming project in the frame of the Prix Elysée will explore representations of masculinity and fatherhood, through video and installation.
Artist's websiteProject
Men vs Fathers
“Recently, I have been thinking a lot about fathers. Fathers as figures, fathers as biology, fathers as disease. My recent obsessions though do not revolve around pure theory. They go hand in hand with a new step taken as an adult: engaging for the first time with my partner in serious conversations about having kids. Our own. The reason why I cannot separate my utmost desire for children from theoretical reflections that go beyond the actual logistics (whether physical or mental) of raising children, is my life - long haunting relationship with my own father. Haunting but sleeping, except for three major moments of my life when it transformed into a crisis.
The moment I left home at 18, the moment I got married, and the moment I started thinking about being a father. And the reason why I cannot think about my relationship with my own father without reflecting on humanity is a case study of the broader history of man, patriarchy, and adulthood. For this project, delving into old family archives, reflecting on them and physically confronting them with my current feelings is essential in my approach, as they are the sole memory keepers of an early attempt to connect with my father, a connection that never endured. I will also be using textures, materials and objects from my childhood and link them to my sentiments to create parallels between their evolution and the evolution of my relationship with my father. Objects and textures from my childhood have always evoked much more than just their nature. In fact, they have since then stood for feelings.
For this project Men vs Fathers, I intend to finally shift my ‘aversion’ for some and tenderness for others by incorporating their growth into the project. Through this sensorial approach and by mixing different media, I am reclaiming the environment and memories of my childhood, while renewing my connection to my own father, and creating a new narrative of masculinity and fatherhood.”