The video Les Illuminés [The Illuminated] was filmed in 1984, a year when the wearing of a veil or a burqa in public places was vigorously debated in France. Halida Boughriet gave her performance in the Paris metro, a socially diverse collective space. Dressed in a burqa, she travelled on the travolator in the Montparnasse metro station. The power of the video lies in the location of the camera under the burqa, behind the mesh through which the woman sees without being seen. A highly contrasted black and white image is visible, along with a slight slowing down of movement and sound, directing our view towards what the subjective camera wants us to see – looks from passers-by and the cultural gap that these looks indicate. Equally, it forces the viewer to confront those shocked looks – the facial expressions that gave the video its title.

Halida Boughriet has succeeded in giving a new and original perspective “from the interior” of a woman in a burqa, who would normally only be seen from the outside in a public space, or portrayed in the media.

But beyond the immediate reactions that we can see, Les Illuminés also directly explores the opposition that exists between two cultures and their relationships not only with the veil, but also with the female body. On the one hand, bodies are on public display, even on advertising posters for public transport. On the other, they are hidden from view by being covered by a black veil. The burqa therefore becomes a symbol that is contradictory and has multiple meanings. In this context it stands for a different issue in each culture – it is put forward as a symbol of the oppression of women when debated in France, while for some women who wear it, it corresponds to a respect for tradition.

Les Illuminés also questions the so-called freedom of individuals in public spaces, a theoretically indisputable freedom, but one that Halida Boughriet challenges through a concrete and day-to-day situation.

The last scene is the only one that wasn't filmed with a subjective camera. It provides the key to the story by filming this immobile black form towards which passers-by turn, often in an insistent manner. In contrast to the movement of the crowd around her, the veiled woman thus takes on a sculptural dimension.

Louise Delbarre