A Franco-Algerian artist based in Marseille, Saphir Belkheir (1991) creates poetic dialogues tinged with simplicity and radicalism. Crossing choreographing and graphic design practices, partly self-taught, he is influenced by hip-hop and popular culture.
After a degree at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Déco in Nancy (2012-2015), Saphir followed the DETER programme in 2021 led by Bintou Dembélé and Albane Guinet-Ahrens and has just graduated from the Exerce master's program at ICI-CCN de Montpellier Occitanie (2023).
Throught tension and density he creates sober forms and performances with layered meanings and readings. The performance is one of his privileged medium because the necessary presence of a body and its legitimacy can be neither captured nor possessed.
Saphir cultivates a deep interest in the verbal and memorial dynamics that act on bodies - on and off stage.
Submitted project: Sycomore, an immersive performance around speculative genealogy. Sycomore is the Egyptian fig tree, symbol of rehabilitation because it develops new branches when cut.