Cléa Rekhou (b. 1988, Paris) is a French-Algerian visual storyteller based in Algiers, Algeria. She grew up in a housing estate on the Paris outskirts and faced social challenges that today nourish her work, her motive and the genesis of most of her projects. After graduating from college with a master degree in Corporate Finance, she moved to Bangkok, Thailand where she worked as a tech. Product Manager from 2014 to 2019.
She was introduced and started to self-learn photography in 2016, she has since been continuously reassessing and re-defining her practice. Her projects broaches topics related to
social issues from overlooked angles as well as identity questions that she explores through understanding her own Algerian heritage.
Cléa aims to create visual work that are statements and an expression of her subjective interpretation of the world. Using diverse creative means along with photography, she works in
giving highlights to people, their paths and their stories.
Her work was shown at the Dali International Photography Exhibition (2019 – Dali, China), the Fotolimo Festival (2021 – Portbou, Spain), the Mostra Viva Mediterrani (2021 – Valencia, Spain), the Besançon Photo Festival (2021 – Besançon, France) and the Amman Photo Festival (2022 – Amman, Jordan). She was also part of the Night of the Year for a group screening with the Collective 220 at Les Rencontres d’Arles (2022 – Arles, France). Most recently she was exhibited at the 2023 Vantage Point Sharjah in the UAE.
Cléa was a finalist of the Emerging Talent Award (2019 – Paris, France) for her project Monsieur, first chapter of her work about domestic violence in France. She was also a finalist of the
Encontros da Imagem (2022 – Braga, Portugal) for On The Edge, a second chapter on that topic that immersively depicts the journey of a family after the return home of the sentenced husband/father.
She is a member of the Collective 220, Women Photograph and a contributor to L’Obs, Like la revue and Everydayafrica. Since 2024, she has become a National Geographic Explorer. Cléa is
today working on questioning the construction of Algerian identities and the relation to our territory while also exploring various artistic processes.
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