Imagine a classroom, not filled with the usual hum of lessons and rustling papers, but with a carefully orchestrated stillness. This was the reality for Hicham Benohoud, a Moroccan art teacher in Marrakech, who, between 1994 and 2002, transformed his everyday teaching environment into a unique photographic project titled 'La salle de classe' (The Classroom).
Benohoud describes his initial frustration with the repetitive nature of teaching art. "Teaching art is a boring job," he admitted. With four classes a day, he'd spend a mere ten minutes explaining assignments, leaving fifty minutes for students to draw or color while he 'popped in.' This routine, he felt, was stifling. "I was going around like a madman, so to solve this, I set up a photo studio," he explained.
This wasn't just about capturing candid moments. Benohoud actively directed his students, creating elaborate scenes that played with perspective and power dynamics. In one striking image, a table is elevated, creating a double-decker workspace with students perched above and below. In another, a teenager emerges from a mountain of white paper, his head nearly touching a light fixture, while his peers work undisturbed at the 'mountain's' edge. These weren't spontaneous snapshots; they were meticulously staged narratives.
"They are my real students," Benohoud clarified, emphasizing the collaborative yet controlled nature of the project. "I am their real teacher." He wasn't just documenting; he was directing, constructing scenarios where his pupils enacted relationships between the individual and the institution. The brochure for one exhibition noted, "Benohoud is not a passing observer documenting moments caught by chance, but rather acts as a director staging a series of scenes in which his pupils enact power relations between the individual and the institution."
This project also stemmed from a practical need. Back in 1989, as his teaching career began, Benohoud found himself lacking the resources to accurately reproduce artistic techniques. "I had some shortcomings in drawing and painting techniques, so I needed documents that could allow me to reproduce them faithfully," he recalled. "In Morocco, we didn't have museums to go to and copy the works of the masters, so I thought of taking pictures of my students."
What started as a personal solution evolved into a sophisticated artistic exploration. The series, comprising over a hundred black and white photographs, gained international recognition, leading to a monograph published in 2001 and exhibitions worldwide, including a recent showing as part of Foto/Industria in Bologna. The images, presented in spaces like a former Roman Catholic church now serving as an art and history library, continue to provoke thought, inviting viewers to question their own responses to these ambiguous, staged realities.
Benohoud's 'The Classroom' is a testament to how constraints can breed creativity, turning the mundane into a fertile ground for artistic expression. It's a reminder that sometimes, the most profound art emerges not from grand pronouncements, but from a teacher's quiet determination to make the everyday extraordinary.
