Published alongside an exhibition at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art (22 September – 21 November 2010), the first solo exhibition in London that is dedicated to the work of Adel Abdessemed.

Working across a wide range of different media, including sculpture, installation, video, photography and drawings, Abdessemed passionately tackles difficult subject matter and taboos within society and presents them as naked truth.

Yet beyond their often challenging and provocative appearance, his works embody the fragility of life and are deeply imbued with beauty and poetry.

Abdessemed’s exhibition at Parasol unit highlights precisely the vulnerability and aesthetic sensitivity in the work of this important twenty-first-century artist.

The exhibition is organised around two of his major works; Habibi, 2003, a 17 metre human skeleton made of fibreglass; and silent warrior, which includes numerous colourful masks made from found and empty tin cans from Africa, which once contained either food or toxic material.

Abdessemed was born in Algeria in 1971 and now lives and works in Paris.