When I was invited to curate this show about streetwear, and to translate this notion into contemporary art, I immediately thought of an artist from my generation – Mohamed Bourouissa, an internationally renowned French artist interested in different kinds of cultures, movements and new technologies, yet very close to his Algerian upbringing and his childhood in the suburbs of Paris.

As someone who was always fighting against suburban stereotypes, he suggested his early work ‘Nous sommes Halles’ – simple and truthful portraits of young lads wearing Lacoste apparel shot in 2003 in a popular neighborhood in Paris – was a homage to the iconic American street photographer, Jamel Shabbaz. Through Bourouissa’s eyes, I rediscovered Shabbaz’s oeuvre, succumbing to the timeless images that capture the beauty and nostalgia of Brooklyn, New York – a feeling which especially seems to have partially disappeared these trying days. I was interested in the aesthetic clash between Shabbaz’s golden light-diffused images and Bourouissa’s more metallic-light take on the portrayal of this youth.

Last year, at an exhibition curated by Bourouissa in the same Paris suburbs where he lives, I discovered the works and world of the young artist Sara Sadik. I was immediately mesmerized by her sci-fi take on ‘beurcore’ – French-Maghrebi culture, as she calls it – through her films and performances. I fell in love with the way she portrayed herself – wearing vintage streetwear for men, from Kalenji (Decathlon French store affordable sports brands); her passion for the French rapper Jul; her genuine interest in her adopted city of Marseille; and especially, her hilarious Instagram account.

Streetwear, more often than not, portrays a single sex – male – and it was important for me to break that boys’ club. And that led to our decision to explore the notion of what streetwear means today, through three different generations of artists from three diverse backgrounds. As part of this exhibition, designs by Balenciaga and apparel and accessories contributed by private fashion collectors from across the world will be on display, adding to the spirit of freedom and irreverence of streetwear.

If wearing a track suit nowadays means that people cannot tell precisely where one comes from, and doesn’t define one’s origins and generation, at least it gives others an idea of how one envisions the world, and how a person can break social codes through clothing and a high swag level.

From Mark Zuckerberg wearing a hoodie in 2012 for a meeting with Facebook investors, through Run DMC removing his Adidas shoe laces in solidarity with prison inmates, to French rappers wearing low cost brands, streetwear these days seems to have regained its political and social edge, overcoming its bling era. It has emerged as more of a hybrid movement, embracing the post-gender revolution with its unisex metamorphosis, completely embedded in the universal youth culture, and the struggles of our times.