Creative Time's Marisa Mazria Katz visited video artist and photographer, Nicene Kossentini, in her studio in Tunis, a year after the country’s uprising against Tunisian dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Nicene was among the tens of thousands of people who demonstrated in downtown Tunis, on January 14th, 2011. That day, the Tunisan ruler dissolved his government and fled to his current home of Saudi Arabia.
Nicene’s work revolves around video pieces and photography. Her latest solo exhibition, Boujmal, was a photographic series of reprinted portraits of her mother, grandmother and great grandmothers, set amongst a backdrop of a desiccated salt lake found in her natal city of Sfax. It was displayed at the Selma Feriani gallery in London, UK.
She also explores her ancestry and her country’s history in Revenir, a video piece where a ghostly figure peers at an old family photograph.
Her work is currently on show at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, France.
This segment was produced by Marisa Mazria Katz with the assistance of Pauline Eiferman as part of Creative Time's Global Initiatives series.
