The Classroom
Hicham Benohoud
May 13–August 31, 2026
Curated by Fraser McCallum
Blackwood Gallery lightboxes, University of Toronto Mississauga campus
︎ link
Photos: Toni Hafkenscheid
The Classroom consists of over 100 photographs taken by Hicham Benohoud while working as an art teacher in Marrakech between 1994 and 2002. Benohoud staged increasingly elaborate scenes with his students, generating a body of work that reflects postcolonial identity, performance, and pedagogy.
The series arose from Benohoud’s frustrations with Morocco’s rigid educational system of the time, whose curriculum of repetition and mimicry bored him and his students alike. In The Classroom, Benohoud uses the school furniture and art supplies at his disposal to create quirky, witty, and poignant images.
The Classroom is not simply cheerful portraiture, as many of his students’ expressions convey ambivalence with the camera. Benohoud suggests their unease reflects the hardships or repression they faced in Morocco’s postcolonial society. The artist’s props often confine, shape, or obscure the sitter’s body, creating “visual metaphors [that] reflect the constraints of my own reality.” These tableaux exceed confinement to reveal forms of agency latent in everyday life, with the imagination and wit of young people at their centre.
Public Programs
Accompanied by four public programs throughout summer 2026. Co-curated with Jacqui Usiskin. ︎link
Contributors: Jose Miguel Esteban, Maya El Helou, Leila Fatemi, Lucy El-Sherif, Zaytouna Academy of Cultural Arts.
The series arose from Benohoud’s frustrations with Morocco’s rigid educational system of the time, whose curriculum of repetition and mimicry bored him and his students alike. In The Classroom, Benohoud uses the school furniture and art supplies at his disposal to create quirky, witty, and poignant images.
The Classroom is not simply cheerful portraiture, as many of his students’ expressions convey ambivalence with the camera. Benohoud suggests their unease reflects the hardships or repression they faced in Morocco’s postcolonial society. The artist’s props often confine, shape, or obscure the sitter’s body, creating “visual metaphors [that] reflect the constraints of my own reality.” These tableaux exceed confinement to reveal forms of agency latent in everyday life, with the imagination and wit of young people at their centre.
Public Programs
Accompanied by four public programs throughout summer 2026. Co-curated with Jacqui Usiskin. ︎link
Contributors: Jose Miguel Esteban, Maya El Helou, Leila Fatemi, Lucy El-Sherif, Zaytouna Academy of Cultural Arts.
