Elise El Yousfi 𓆃

"Dissonances", "Babillages (father and son)", "Date palm","Rocking bird" from the installation Only Tears and Baby Powder, Sculpting in a Foreign Language, displayed in the MA Show at the Royal Academy Fine Arts Antwerp. various sculptures with mixed materials: ceramics, ash, stones, baby powder, chalk, plaster, glazed beads, antique doilies and lace, steel beads sourced in Morocco, steel, lead, tin, burned sugar, sheep wool. Pictures by @charlotte__danielse @sculpture_royalacademyantwerp @royalacademyantwerp

The Book: OTBP, Sculpting in a Foreign Language Soft book, 75 pages, hand-bounded with a piece of archive lace. [2/7 available, dm to order] 📮 A collaboration with Angela Xu, many thanks to her who went through my private diaries and archive 🤍🫱🏻‍🫲🏼

More from my master installation placed on a big handkerchief surrounded by my grandmother's lace. 𓅮 الحزن غادي يمشي بعيد والبلشون غادي يطير بعيد Pictures by @charlotte__danielse

📢 Nieuwe M-resident: Elise El Yousfi De komende 5 maanden werkt kunstenaar Elise El Yousfi in onze residentieruimte bij @cascoleuven . El Yousfi's praktijk ontvouwt zich op het snijvlak van beeldhouwkunst en poëzie. In staal, glas en keramiek transformeert ze tekst tot sculpturen waarin herinnering, identiteit en vragen rond het volwassen worden met elkaar verweven zijn. Tijdens haar residentie wil El Yousfi het atelier tot een open, verstilde ontmoetingsruimte transformeren. Ze nodigt bezoekers uit tot gesprek en gedeelde reflectie, en zet de dialoog in als verlengstuk van haar materiaalonderzoek. 🔎 Lees meer over haar praktijk via de link in bio 💡 Deze residentie maakt deel uit van een tweejaarlijkse uitwisseling tussen @moussem_nomadic_arts_centre en M, met als doel kunstenaars te verankeren in een nieuwe stedelijke context en hun professionele netwerk uit te breiden. Dit jaar wordt Elise El Yousfi M-resident, terwijl de in Leuven wonende en werkende Aya Koné (@feta_kuti ) de omgekeerde beweging maakt en resident wordt bij Moussem. #EliseElYousfi #MLeuven 📷 @juliawaraksa & @charlotte__danielse

Tomorrow from 14h tune in for our soundscape with @david.numwami 🦢🦢💫✨ at @kiosk.radio ! Visual by @wendtobias 💋

𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗘𝗹 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗳𝗶, 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗺! Elise El Yousfi (°2001, she/her) was born in France, lives and works in Antwerp. Her passage into adulthood led her to position herself in relation to her double identity. Directly influenced by her Moroccan heritage, Elise’s writing and sculpture praxis allow her to attune to this culture – as for Etal Adnan, an important reference within her work, art serves a pivotal role in re-connecting to one’s roots. Elise’s sculptures and installation works have been presented at The Constant Now, De Studio, Kunsthal Mechelen, and the botanical gardens of Meise and Nancy, among others. During her residency at Moussem, Elise seeks to deepen her research on sculpture as a space of refuge and projection, linked to childhood, memory and non-verbal forms of language. Her work will articulate itself through the creation of sculptural environments combining ceramics, steel and glass, where writing will take center stage as a plastic material. The residency will be a time of experimentation, allowing her to develop new forms inspired by the motif of the playground, conceived as a space for healing, for nostalgia, and for reconciliation with one’s heritage. Portrait © Julia Waraksa ⎢ Installation view Only Tears and Baby Powder, Sculpting in a Foreign Language © Michiel de Cleene ⎢Wind Regards, Blind Regards © Charlotte Daniëlse

This was 'Ornamental Gesture’!
Thank you all for coming out again, we will be opening our next exhibition on the 3rd of April A big thank you to the brilliant artists for their input and works:
 @elise_ely , @papoo.thibau , @sidequeeste and @lisaijeoma For production, thanks to @papoo.thibau for the graphic design, @murra__ for help with production and @thor.vermin for the installation shots. 
Special thanks to our partner @metal.antwerp for the space! All images © [ @thor.vermin ] #artistrunspace #visualart #ornamentalgesture  #antwerp #backspace

The next exhibition at BackSpace ‘Ornamental Gesture’ opens on 30/01 from 5pm. In Ornamental Gestures, echoes of diverse cultural references resonate, converging in a dialogue between tradition and the contemporary. The exhibition marks a growing movement within current art: a shift towards 'neo-folklore'. Within this current, the gaze turns not outward, but inward—towards the intimate, local lived environment and personal social history. Here, the ornament is not mere decoration, but a vessel for identity and memory. The participating artists embrace a tactility often lost in our   visual culture. They seamlessly combine contemporary aesthetics with artisanal techniques, imbuing everyday objects with new significance. The use of materials is eclectic and surprising: ranging from furniture and traditional textiles to the ephemerality of baby powder. Each work is a tangible gesture, referencing the rituals and habits that shape us. Ornamental Gestures demonstrates how today's artists do not imitate the past, but reinterpret it to grasp their own surroundings. Participating artists are: @sidequeeste : @nielsraoulboone_ and @verhelstvictor @elise_ely @lisaijeoma @papoo.thibau The exhibition is open during the following weekend (30/01-1/02), between 14:00 and 18:00. Poster design by @papoo.thibau 
#artistrunspace #visualart #exhibition #ornamentalgestures #antwerp

Last exhibition of the year 2025. 🌬️🏳️ Phonemes pt 1. by @temp.antwerp with @evavanbemmelen @maria.paris.b Kind Regards, Blind Regards, 2025. Rocking Bird, 2024. In situ powder installation. Thank you for this collaboration @dimitrisiokis @brentdecraene_ 💫

Join us on Sunday, 30 November at 14:00 for the opening of the second exhibition in our current location with works by: @evavanbemmelen , @mariaparisb and @elise_ely 𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔰 (𝔭𝔱.1) Opening: Sunday, 30 November 14:00–18:00 TEMP, Frankrijklei 133A, 2018 Antwerpen The exhibition continues: By appointment until 07/12 We hope to see you there!

A morning in late spring with @juliawaraksa . wearing the beautiful handmade coat by @hunger.ren thanks to @bennypann @store_acrai 🤍

𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨, 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 by @elise_ely At the Dahlgren Arboretum, amid flowering trees, Elise El Yousfi presents four kinetic sculptures that move with the wind. Their shapes recall plants, streetlights, or baby rattles. Steel beads from Morocco, where her father’s family home is located, produce sounds that for El Yousfi echo hearing a foreign language - an abstraction where meaning dissolves. Her works evoke nostalgia and recognition, as if returning to a space before language and stories. Using ceramics, lace, drawings, and baby powder, she builds a poetic vocabulary that forms new constellations each time. Inspired by playgrounds, her sculptures invite visitors to explore through play, touch, scent, and sound. The location refers to the Dahlgren taxonomy, grouping trees into families - just as her work reconnects the stories of her own lineage across distances. NL In het Dahlgren Arboretum, tussen bloeiende houtgewassen, presenteert Elise El Yousfi vier kinetische sculpturen die met de wind meebewegen. Hun vormen herinneren aan planten, straatlantaarns of babyrammelaars. Stalen kralen uit Marokko, waar haar vaders ouderlijk huis zich bevindt, produceren klanken die voor El Yousfi het horen van een vreemde taal oproepen – een abstractie waar betekenis vervaagt. De sculpturen wekken nostalgie en herkenning, alsof men terugkeert naar een ruimte vóór taal en verhalen. Met keramiek, kant, tekeningen en babypoeder bouwt ze een poëtische woordenschat die telkens nieuwe constellaties vormt. Geïnspireerd door speelpleinen, nodigt haar werk bezoekers uit om spel, aanraking, geur en geluid te verkennen. De locatie verwijst naar het Dahlgren-taxonomiesysteem, dat bomen groepeert in families – net zoals haar werk verhalen van haar eigen stamboom verbindt over geografische grenzen heen. 📸 @michieldecleene