Please note that all dates are tentative and subject to change.

Tears that Taste of the Sea, an exhibition of new works by Rachid Koraïchi, will open at October Gallery in 2021. The exhibition presents a select sampling of Koraïchi’s works in different media created during this past year of global crisis, and includes seven blue and white ceramic vases from the Lachrymatoires Bleues series, three sets of seven paintings from the Handkerchiefs of Hope series, three large steel sculptures representing vigilant guardian figures and one large etching, Le Jardin d’Afrique. In formal terms, the diverse works are linked together by the figures, glyphs and symbols of Koraïchi’s signature style of hand-drawn characters. Thematically speaking, they are related by their emphasis on the innumerable tears shed mourning the loss of loved ones, for reasons of displacement, migration and disaster, or the harrowing effects of the present pandemic. This exhibition marks the first time these four elements of The Garden of Africa, Koraïchi's significant new project to create a cemetery in Southern Tunisia for the many migrants drowned while crossing the Mediterranean in search of a better life, are displayed together.

Rachid Koraïchi’s creative explorations have extended across an impressive array of media, which include ceramics, textiles, bronze, corten steel, wood and paintings on silk, paper or canvas. Over his long career, Koraïchi has been influenced by a fascination with signs, symbols and scripts drawn from a variety of languages and cultures, which he integrates to create his mixed media installations. These large-scale projects employ an array of diverse elements that are commonly executed in widely divergent places, sometimes in collaboration with practitioners of ancient, traditional crafts or, again, employing the most sophisticated of modern technological advances.