For the series Horse Day, in which he designs, stages and documents an equestrian event, Bourouissa focuses on a North Philadelphia community’s efforts at neighbourhood revitalisation.
Inspired by US photographer Martha Camarillo’s photographs of horsemen in Strawberry Mansion - an impoverished Philadelphia neighborhood - Bourouissa traveled there to see for himself the urban stables run by the men. For eight months he observed, drew, and photographed them. With a strong collaborative sensibility, Bourouissa embedded himself within the community, which led him to suggest that the men organise a competition, ‘Horse Day’, in which artists from other neighborhoods would be invited to create costumes for the horses. The video documents the event and its preparations, and acts as an examination of how society is structured and social processes are activated.
The accompanying sculpture/seating system, Banquette Bleu by Félix Seguret (France, 1985), and a sculptural work of Celeab, one of the riders in Horse Day, conjures associations between horse and car, and Western society’s altered relationship with the former, as the latter rapidly evolved.
