Zineb Andress Arraki grew up in Casablanca before pursuing her architectural studies first in Marseille, then Paris. At the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture, she met her mentor and professor Lionel Lemire, who introduced her to “the observation of blemishes on the world’s skin”, as she says. This encounter marked the beginning of a questioning of the world she inhabits, and her place in it. She defines her framework of interpretation in her final thesis Et si le noir fabriquait l’architecture? (And if architecture was made of black?) which represents the genesis of her practice. In 2013, she was a finalist in the “Lmagana” competition (to imagine an urban clock tower) for “100 Years in Guéliz” in Marrakech. In 2014, she was nominated for the Paul Huff Award at FOAM in Holland, and entered the collection of the MMVI – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Mohammed VI – in Rabat.
Mobilogy, questioning the usual is a daily event. Since 2008 – with the help of her cell phone – she has posted photographs every day, telling a story. This unique approach “captures the often pale and monotonous everyday existence in the 21st century. This testimony is inspired by the writer Georges Pérec’s project in L’Infra-ordinaire (Infra-ordinary), in terms of its grid structure, Oulipian constraints, and observation of ordinary life.”
As for the traditional photographs of Zineb Andress Arraki, they are born of life encounters and situations that confront her. She writes her own rules for sharing her feelings, developing her approach, and determining her singularity.
Her works combine architecture, photography, installations, scenography, and video.