Algésiras & Madrid (Es)· Hallein & Vienne (Au) Curated by Monika Anselmen
« 5 years after the revolution, even words start to rot. »
Médiums : Installation , Photography ,
Thèmes : Politics & Revolution , Memory & Disappearance
Bread occupies an essential place in Tunisian daily life. It is considered a sacred food — naamet rabbi, “God’s blessing.” It also gave its name to a popular uprising in the 1980s: the “Bread Riots.” In 2011, bread became one of the powerful symbols of the revolution: through the slogan “Khobz ou mé ou Ben Ali lé” — “We would rather eat bread and drink water than keep Ben Ali” — and as a symbol of solidarity during the long queues that formed in the days following 14 January.
Surreal Flag is a series of surrealist flags made from bread and water on a red background. They bear the words that drove the revolution: work, freedom, dignity.
Three words. Three promises.
It is 2016, five years later. These words have moulded.
The fourth panel is a superimposition of the three words. Repeated over and over, they have lost their meaning. They have become a cacophony — an unreadable word.
Throughout the exhibition in Algeciras, Spain, the words actually moulded. Sealed inside plexiglass boxes, they could be observed by visitors as they changed day after day: the mould spreading, the strong smell filling the exhibition space.
The decay was visible, real, and documented.
This project was the first experiment in making words mould — a process that later led to Karama Survival Kit.
Mould as a political process.
Medium / Date
Series of photographs and installations: boxes containing Arabic words — freedom, dignity, work — made from bread and water on a red background.
Tiempos de Desamparo, Espacio Alcultura, Algeciras, Spain; subsequently presented at CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain, and Proarte de Kunstraum, Hallein, Austria. Also presented as part of Harraga, Parallel Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 2017.
→ See also : We Will No Longer Eat This Bread — Karama Survival Kit