Achraf Baznani is a Moroccan artist, filmmaker and photographer. He was born in Marrakesh/Morocco.
Baznani got started in photography by chance. He received a Kodak Ektra compact 250 camera for his birthday as a teen. Baznani is self-taught and has never taken photography classes. He has made several short films and documentaries. These include "Walk" in 2006 and "The Forgotten" in 2007. "The Immigrant" in 2007 received several national and international awards.
Baznani is best known for being the first artist in the Arab world to publish a photo-book based on surreal imagery. Both books, Through My Lens and Inside My Dreams, are surreal. Baznani places himself within his photographs of everyday objects, scenes and amusing situations.
His works were featured in various magazines worldwide like PicsArt, National Geographic, Mambo, Photo+, Amateur Photographer, Fotografe Melhor, Digital Photo magazine.
During 2014 he completed his "52 Project", a personnal mission which he committed on taking a picture every week in a row for a year.
Awards:
2015: Best in the show in Park Art Fair International
2015: Merit in Sydney International Exhibition of Photography
2015: 1st Prize in B2zone art contest in Switzerland
2016: Honorable mention in Park Art Fair International
2016: 1st Place Winner – Golden Ribbon in Notindoor photography magazine contest
2016: Golden Orchid Grand Prize, New York
2016: International Prize Colosseo, Roma, Italy
2016: Best Modern and Contemporary Artist, Vienna
2017: Kunst Heute Award, Germany
2017: International Prize Galilei Galileo, Pisa, Italy
2017: Fine Art Photography Awards – Nominee Conceptual Category, London, UK
2017: Silver Medal, 100 Arab Photographers Award, Germany
Exhibitions (selection):
2015 "Colour brust", PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2015: Park Art Fair International 2015, Triberg, Germany
2015: Gallery Globe, Adisson, Texas, USA
2015: Digital Private Exhibition Louvre Museum, Paris, France
2015: My Small World, Solo Exhibition, Marrakesh, Morocco
2016: International Surrealism Now, Coimbra, Portugal
2016: Park Art Fair International 2016, Triberg, Germany
2016: Männer, Gräfelfing, Germany
2016: Inside my Dreams, Solo Exhibition, Rabat, Morocco
2017: Artmuc 2017, Munich, Germany
2017: Fine Art, Blank Art Gallery, Athènes, Greece
2017: Nordart, Germany
Art books:
Through my lens, 2014
Inside my dreams, 2014
I AM, 2016