Yaqien Bouhbaka: “Immerse yourself in everything ArtEZ has to offer. And enjoy it!”

Yaqien grew up with his mother in Turnhout, Belgium. His father was largely absent from his life. Still, Yaqien often found himself thinking about him, first in his thoughts and later in the texts he wrote.

At one point, Yaqien decided to interview his father to get answers to long-standing questions. Shortly afterwards, he learned that his father was seriously ill and did not have long to live. This raised new questions: “Should I now forget everything from the past? Try to build a relationship after all? Would I feel grief once my father was gone?”

Autobiographical

During this intense period, Yaqien decided his graduation work would focus on his father’s approaching death. “I wrote an autobiographical piece and, with the help of theatre maker Willem de Wolf, I turned it into a 90-minute performance.” The result was: IHE NDỊ M CHỌRỌ ỊKWA NNA M / The things I wanted to say to my father. Based in part on childhood letters, Yaqien shows in this performance how he keeps trying to reach out to his father.

With this performance, Yaqien aimed to make personal pain “presentable,” translating it into a theatrical form. “It was important to me to approach the theme of ‘the absent father’ with a certain lightness and humour.”

Emotions as a foundation

Yaqien explains that throughout his studies, he increasingly realised that his own experiences often form the basis of his work. He gives another example: “In my third year, I created a video installation consisting of eight works. Each installation explored a theme I was deeply engaged with, such as body insecurity or an existential crisis. Again, I noticed that personal work can resonate universally. That was very meaningful.”

Catharsis?

For his graduation thesis, Yaqien researched how to effectively transform personal emotions into an artwork. “I developed a kind of step-by-step plan,” he explains. “It was based on my own experiences as a maker, but I also looked at how Kendrick Lamar’s rap music comes into being.”

He also explored whether turning pain into art can lead to catharsis (emotional release). His preliminary conclusion? “It can certainly have a therapeutic effect for the maker. But catharsis is also an ongoing process, you don’t achieve it all at once.”

Award

Yaqien’s graduation performance was very well received. He even won a special jury prize when performing at the Festival International des Écoles Supérieures d’Art Dramatique in Rabat, Morocco. “I never expected to hear my name during the award ceremony,” he says, still slightly surprised, “but of course it felt like a form of recognition.”

He received the prize because, “through his personal story, he successfully builds a bridge between the cultures of Europe and Africa, and shows what it means to belong to two different worlds.”

Yaqien notes that at the School of Acting, he was given the tools that enabled him to create his performance. “We learned a wide range of techniques, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, we had fencing classes. That helped me relate better to my scene partner and take up spaces, skills that are very useful on stage.”

Communication is crucial

He continues: “The most important thing I learned, however, was communication: truly connecting. Rehearsing is a shared search: what do we want to say, and how do we want to perform it? You have to step off your own island and clearly express what you think and feel. I also learned that during my internship.”

In his fourth year, Yaqien interned on the theatre production Huis van Troje, produced by De Schuur and ITA. “It was a wonderful experience, especially because I got to perform alongside renowned actresses and exchange ideas with them.”

Looking back and ahead

Yaqien has recently graduated and looks back on his studies with great appreciation. “I was able to develop myself in a safe environment, together with like-minded people, in a field I love deeply. How special is that?” His advice to younger students: “Immerse yourself in everything the school has to offer. And enjoy it!”

Yaqien is curious about what lies ahead. “The future is still open. I would love to create and perform new work myself, or take part in productions by others. I’m also exploring residency opportunities. At the same time, I’m reaching out to festivals to see if I can perform my graduation piece more often. And I’m writing a new play."

Tips

Does Yaqien have any advice for students auditioning for the School of Acting? “Be yourself! And use the audition to discover whether the programme truly suits you. I auditioned many times myself, and even studied for a year at a Belgian drama school. There, I mainly learned how to play a specific role, which didn’t suit me. The Arnhem approach, with lots of space for autonomy and creativity, did. I felt that during my audition.”