Women Artists in Tunisia

This series presents a series of portraits of women artists living and working in Tunisia.
Since the Arab Spring, the Tunisian cultural scene has developed a lot, which has allowed many women to openly claim an artist status and to gradually carve out a place on the contemporary scene.

This project was realized in collaboration with La Boîte _ Un Lieu d’Art Contemporain and partly financed by the Stiftung Kunstfonds within the framework of the NEUSTART KULTUR Program (2022/23).

Artistes: Férielle Doulain-Zouari, Hela Lamine, Nicène Kossentini, Yesmine Ben Khelil, Safa Attyaoui

“We live in a man’s world, that’s a fact. For some years now, many initiatives have been set up to sensitize and remedy this inequality; there is still a lot to be done but there is still a lot to do, whether it is on the artistic scene, or in other fields. As a woman, I am fortunate to live in a city, Berlin, where this theme is omnipresent. It is the first city to have created a women’s day, March 8, in the same way as other symbolic holidays. And the perception of the woman or mother artist on the scene artistic scene is slowly but surely changing. I think we are very influenced by the context in which we live every day. So for me, the idea of this series came quite naturally. I started 2020 in Berlin and then I wanted to continue it here in Tunis, my second country. It is also a way to pay tribute to this artistic scene, which has flourished these last years, and with them the presence of women artists. I seek to share a day spent with these artists and show what we do not see in the exhibition halls, that is to say, the creative process. I would like to thank in particular Fatma Kilani, who supports these artists and who supported my project. And also the artists who agreed to open the doors of their studios to me. Have a good viewing!” Elma Riza

Elma Riza, 2023