Nasreddine Bennacer “Sous la mer les mots” The Franco-Algerian artist Nasr eddine Bennacer returns to the Depardieu Gallery with the exhibition “Sous la mer les mots” from March 12 to April 11, 2020. The visitor is immersed in an atmosphere under -marine, punctuated by invisible traps: fishing bait, hanging hooks, a fishing net lit by neon. Some of these objects blend in with the gallery's decor, others insistently demand the viewer's attention and carry symbolic meaning: they represent the innumerable tricks that influence our daily choices. The seabed evoked by Bennacer is a far cry from the escapist and idyllic spirit which often accompanies the natural imagination and, instead, embody the metaphor of the hidden face of society, that which is constituted by an imperceptible system of mechanisms of oppression and conditioning. In this universe, we are never safe, always haunted by the presence of an indistinct predator threatening us. The sea is also a place of hope and has represented the promise of a better life for thousands of individuals who, over the centuries, have crossed its waves pushed by a desire for knowledge or escape, in search of new worlds, freedom or peace. This disputed territory has been the cradle of conflicts and discoveries, as well as the silent witness of an immemorial history of migration and colonization. In the series "I breathe underwater", messages launched to the sea rise to the surface like fragile air bubbles, containing a last cry of help. These are the messages of the anonymous victims who lost their lives at sea, sometimes conditioned by these same invisible traps containing empty promises of progress, democracy and liberation. Their words are no more than fuzzy and blurred traces among which one discerns the declaration of the hopes and wishes which motivated their crossing, as well as words of comfort, repentance and requests for forgiveness. In these illegible features also echoes a warning against the vanity and the deceptive nature of this enterprise. Through this perilous journey, the artist encourages us to consider the contradictions that underlie the migratory economy. The pillars of the “Western Dream,” ideas of progress, self-actualization, democracy and freedom, are stripped of their charming aura to unveil a system that is itself oppressive and corrupt. The invitation is to always go to the bottom, to dig the surface, to reveal the disappointment that often hides behind the superficial brandishing of ideals and behind the discourse of improvement and progress that has long served as an instrument of oppression. . - Elisabetta Garletti