Ali Marok

Ali Marok (علي ماروك), born in 1939 in Hadjout (formerly Marengo) in Algeria, is an Algerian cinema director of photography, television reporter and photographer.

When he was young, Ali did not have the advantage of a normal schooling. He had to redouble his efforts to make up for lost time. It is the birth of this artistic feeling which will increase tenfold in the future artist eager to learn. “My life is a continuous learning process,” he summed up, with the simplicity of a young schoolboy, in search of discoveries and knowledge. “My uncle Abdelkader Benzerfa, a man of culture, knew how to instill in me values which shaped my personality. He introduced me to the world of images. No doubt it was my launching pad. » “It was on television, where I worked in the 1960s, that my taste for the profession was affirmed. It was a means of expression for me and I developed it.” At the same time, Ali photographed the Casbah of Algiers, “as if to freeze the imprint of time on the monuments”.

An atypical character, a pioneer of photography in Algeria, he likes to define himself as a shepherd-photographer. No doubt he was influenced by this happy Mitidja, who saw him born. He takes his job head on with great passion. “For me, a photographer is first and foremost a witness to his century. He must do his job with love, respect and generosity. A photographer, he notes, must know, respect and make people discover the cultural place that he must capture with his camera, because we cannot restore a part of our memory without feeling that it is part of ourselves. We cannot damage something that belongs to us. » He published his phorographic work in several art books including “Les Phares d’Algérie”, “Les Mosaïques Des Eaux”, “La Mecca, Regards Sur Le Pèlerinage” published by Larousse-Géo, “La Kabylie”. This latest work earned him the congratulations of many personalities, including Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the UN who “had the pleasure of reading through this remarkable work which combines texts written from the heart and photographs of high quality” .

In the cinema, Ali Marok puts his discerning photographer’s eye, as an image taker, to the service of several feature films, including in “The Battle of Algiers” (1966) by Gillo Pantecorvo, “The Pan-African Festival of Algiers ” (1969) by William Klein, “Tahia Ya Didou” (1971) by Mohamed Zinet, “Premier Pas” (1980) and “Le Refus” (1982) by Mohamed Bouamari, “Le Glas” (1964) by René Vautier, and many others with the latter, the ultimate director of militant guerrilla cinema, in the Algerian maquis during the war of independence and elsewhere in other African countries in the midst of decolonization struggles…

Ali Marok was a photographer reporter for Jeune Afrique magazine. He has collaborated with Le Figaro, Paris Match, New York Times and Afrique Asia… But more than an image hunter, Ali is an artist. Asked what he would have done if he was not a photographer, he answers “I would have been a second-hand dealer or an antiques dealer. For what ? Because I like to live and revive objects that marked their time. “. As part of the year of Algeria in France, in 2003, Ali Marok exhibited his most beautiful art photos at the Algerian Cultural Center in Paris, under the theme “Algeria, space and diversity”.