Visual artist Hicham Benohoud was raised in Morocco. In his series 'Classroom', Benohoud takes portraits of school children with objects on their limbs such as nests of boxes, wire, broken mirrors and large rolls of paper or fabric, and these are a response to his restrictive past life enforced by his culture which he was in opposition to. Christian Caujolle, director of the VU agency and gallery in Paris which showcased the work in 2001, asked: "How do these seemingly calm images, which look so serene, manage to suggest deep violence – invisible but very real violence, the kind of violence that touches the individual in the depths of his being – even though they are anything but spectacular?" My favourite image from this series is the one in the middle. Benahoud has captured and designed the concept of a restrictive lifestyle by having the boys in the plastic bags, however, I feel there's a slight contrast with the both plastic being twisted in the middle. There isn't a cut or anything, instead they are twisted together, so this could suggest a sense community but yet this is juxtaposed with the boys being covered in plastic and positioned separate from each other. This is why I really like this image.
In the first two images, I tried to imitate the rustic and harsh feel Benahoud's black and white images give by covering the face with a metal object. Then, I edited the filter and texture on Photoshop to get that harsh feel. In the next images, I broke away from the black and white filter and instead used other objects to convey the idea of restriction. In my opinion these are aesthetically nice looking objects and I chose to have these juxtapose this by covering the face. However, I feel that the last two images are the only ones that were successful because of the lights look nice in the sun but this is then obviously contrasted with it being tied over the subjects face. What I would've done differently is not just use the face (especially covering it) to present the concept of a restrictive society; Benahoud used the whole body as well as the face. I also would've used a different background because it is quite distracting from the actual focus.