Unfortunately because of the pandemic I will not be able to visit Abdessamad El Montassir’s exhibition "Rising from The Ashes" (Surgir Des Cendres) — as part of #chroniques2020 in Aix-en-Provence. If Abdessamad is today a friend, it is through our long lockdown Skype conversations that I got to really know him as an artist (a photographer and filmmaker) and it was then an incredible experience to be able to write about his work. My essay "Towards an Aesthetics of Silence" is a reflexion on Abdessamad’s research-based practice. His art is an investigation into something that escapes us all, the exploration of something that few people want to know about but which inhabits the territory he is from and that he tirelessly depicts. Please check out this work on @lecube_independentartroom website. . Thanks to @gabriellec & @abdessamadelmontassir for their patience with my questions. What you see on the pictures are photographs from his "Al Amakine" series and his film "Achayef" but there is also a sound piece called "Galb’echouf". Exhibition views © Pierre Gondard @if_officiel @secondenaturezinc @gmem_cncm_marseille #abdessamadelmontassir #chroniques2020 #aixenprovence #alamakine #achayef #sahara #risingfromtheashes #surgirdescendres