Monia Ben Hamouda

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Monia Ben Hamouda (1991, Milan, Italy) lives and works between al-Qayrawan (Tunisia) and Milan (Italy). 

The work of Monia Ben Hamouda traces her Tunisian-Italian heritage through both personal experience and collective memory. Drawing on symbols and materials tied to Arab cultural belonging, her practice engages contemporary tensions around identity and representation within shifting socio-political discourses. Since her childhood calligraphy lessons with her father in Italy, and formal training at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, her work moves through questions of intergenerational heritage, negotiating the fractures and overlaps that define diasporic identity. These negotiations unfold across unstable cultural, historical, and symbolic borders that are continually tested and redefined. Reworking inherited aesthetic canons, Ben Hamouda forges a visual language that resists rigidity, singular histories, and fixed meaning.

Collections: MAXXI, Rome; TBA21 – Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection, Madrid; Kunsthaus, Zurich; FRAC Corsica, Haute-Corse, Corsica; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes; Museion, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bolzano, Bozen; Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, Turin; MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome; Collezione Banca d’Italia.

Awards

2024
MAXXI BVLGARI Prize IV
Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation Prize

2022
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant

2021
Torino Social Impact Art Award x Artissima
Art Business Accelerator Grant – Artwork, Archive + Redline Contemporary Art Center

2020
DUCATO Contemporary Art Prize Special Award

Education

2014
BFA in Fine Arts at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan

Solo Exhibitions

2026
Solo show, Curated by Emanuele Guidi, Barth, Bressanone
After Totality, ChertLüdde, Berlin

2025
Post-Scriptum, Centre d’art contemporain La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel
Path of Totality, Curated by Gioia del Molin, Museo Casa Rusca, Locarno
YA’ABURNEE – يقبرني, curated by Anissa Touati, Selma Feriani Gallery, La Goulette, Tunisia

2024
MAXXI BVLGARI PRIZE IV, curated by Giulia Ferracci, MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome
NYX, double exhibition with Maude Léonard-Contant, Istituto Svizzero, Milan

2023
About Telepathy and other Violences, ChertLüdde, Berlin
The Destruction of the Idols of Ka’ba, Casa Encendida, Madrid

2022
Remarkably Clear, Almost Invisible, curated by Anthony Discenza, Ashes/Ashes, New York
Wudu Diorama, curated by Anthony Discenza, Lower Cavity, Boston
Hamra, curated by Karen Vestergaard Andersen and Helen Nishijo Andersen, Ariel Feminism, Copenhagen
The eye, the hands, The Lunacy of Lunar Sightings, curated by Anissa Touati, Jevouspropose, Zurich

2021
Night of Hinnã, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Two suns upon Shatt al Jarid, curated by Nestor Garcia Diaz, Carles Àngel Saurí, Paula García-Masedo, Pols, Valencia

2019
Extended protection, Allegoric Defence, curated by Camilla Edström Ödemark, Gallery CC, Malmö

2017
MIRANDA, Pane Project, Milan
It Won’t Only Kill You, it will Hurt the Whole Time You’re Dying, Double solo with Michele Gabriele, OJ, Istanbul

Group Exhibitions

2025
The Narrative of Decline, Curated by Bernhard Buhmann, Carbon 12 Gallery, Dubai
14th Taipei Biennial 2025: Whispers on the Horizon, Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, Taipei
64 Premio Termoli, Curated by Caterina Riva, MACTE Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Termoli, Termoli, 2025
The Posterity of the Sun, Curated by Ludovic Delalande, Limassol, Cyprus

2024
Milan Drawing Week, Spazio Lima, Milan
A soft edge to break a sword, ChertLüdde Potsdamer Straße 97, Berlin
Kin, Spiritvessel, Espinavessa
Survival Kit, Curated by Jussi Koitela, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga
Sex Reenchanted, Curated by Mehveş Ungan, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberger
Renaissance, Curated by Leonie Radin, MUSEION Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano
EXPOSURE. Art, culture, fashion in and out of the showcase, Curated by Katya Inozemtseva, MUDEC – Museum of Cultures, Milan

2023
Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat, curated by Laura Amann, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien
L’autre Musée, The Treasures Of A Major Contemporary Art Collection, Frac Bretagne, Rennes
Paris Internationale, w/ ChertLüdde, Paris
Spirit Vessel Residency, curated by Sira Piza and Andrew Birk, Espinavesa
My Demons My Angels, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn – Deep Knowledge, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz
Retrofuture, collection, MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Rome
www, curated by Natalia Serkova & Vitaly Bezpalov, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen

2022
The Lying Body: Only the Futures Revisit the Past, curated by Emanuele Guidi, Arge/kunst, Bolzano
A Feminine Lexicon, curated by Pia Diamandis, Giacomo Donati and Elena Tortelli, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence

2021
Cry me a River, curated by Treti Galaxie, Combo – Official lounge Artissima, Turin
Museo Diffuso Contemporaneo, Serralunga d’Alba
Ducato Prize winners exhibition, Volumnia, Piacenza
Perno 4, curated by Musketeers, project coordinator Clarissa Tempestini, Museo Diffuso Contemporaneo, Serralunga d’Alba
Ducato Prize winners Exhibition, Volumnia, Piacenza

2020
Endless Nostalghia, curated by Treti Galaxie, 101 Numeri pari, Museo Pecci Prato, Piazza del Campidoglio Rome and Online
Collagen Shadows, curated by Zoë De Luca, ADA, Rome
Blade Banner, curated by Dafne Boggeri, Sprint & Istituto Svizzero,, Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali, Milano
Love Data – Alios 16 me Biennale d’Art, Contemporain Théâtre Cravey Pavilion, La Teste-de-Bûch

2019
NORTHERN LIGHTS, curated by Something Must Break, Alta art space, Malmö
Unsupported Message Format, curated by Pierre Clement, Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris
Orrido 120 residency, curated by Something Must Break and Zoe De Luca, Swan Station, Buco del Piombo
Swamp Horses, curated by Andrew Birk, Spirit Vessel + ALTAN, Espinavesa

2018
WET, Haunt project space, Yogyakarta
Swamp Thing versus Man-thing, curated by Anthony Discenza, Et.al gallery, San Francisco
First I Have to Put my Face On, Like a Little Disaster, curated by Cristina Gigliotti, Polignano a Mare
Hope, curated by New Scenario, Universitätssammlungen Kunst, Dresden
Trigger Party #6, curated by Siliqoon, Marselleria Permanent Exhibition, Milan
Fantasy Direct vol II, The Wrong – Digital Art Biennale, Nathan Road, Hong Kong

2017
The Bunt, curated by Fred Powell, Ginny Projects, London
Assiette ou Virage et Dérapage, curated by Something Must Break, Milan

2016
Milano Film Festival, Milan
VideoEspanso, RivoliDue Fondazione per l’Arte, Contemporanea, Milan

2014
L’Intimità dell’immagine come luogo in comune, curated by Gianni Caravaggio, Viafarini DOCVA, Milan

Curatorial projects:
2024
To Romanticize with Indecision, Curated by Monia Ben Hamouda & Michele Gabriele, Cassina Projects, Milan

Residencies & Lectures:
2024
American Academy, Rome

2022
Lower Cavity Residency Holyoke, Massachusetts

2021
Talk at Artissima Fair, Torin
Visiting Professor at Istituto Marangoni, Florence
Visiting Professor at Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden

2019
Orrido 120 residency, Swan Station, Buco del Piombo

2016
Academy Awards residency, Viafarini, Milan

2015
Filmidee summer residency, Filmidee, Sardinia

2014
Jury member at Filmmaker Festival, Milan

Press selection:

2025
“The Commonality of Yearning: Taipei Biennial 2025” by Faye Campbell, Berlin Art Link, 16 December 2025, online.

2024
“Measuring as World-Making at Survival Kit 15” by Adela Lovric, Berlin Art Link, September, 2024, online.
“NYX. A Conversation with Monia Ben Hamouda, Maude Léonard-Contant, and Gioia Dal Molin” by Attilia Fattori Franchini, Flash Art, 28 May 2024, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda wins VG Foundation Prize”, Art Review, 25 March 2024, online.

2023
“Right Now Outside: Monia Ben Hamouda” by Emanuele Guidi, Mousse Magazine, April 3, 2024, p 116-121.
“Kultur im April” by Maria Hunstig, Vogue, April 2023, p. 81.
“Monia Ben Hamouda. Lo, the hands of fate and cumin” by Nate Rynaski, Flaunt, online, 1 May 2023, online.
“MAXXI Bulgari Art Prize. Who are the finalists of the fourth edition”, artribune, online, 19 November 2023
“La“forzadebole”di Monia Ben Hamouda”, interview by Francesco Stocchi and Gabriele Sassone,  Il Folgio, 23 September 2023, online.
“Berlin’s Biggest-Ever Gallery Weekend Was Full of Wonders” by Max L. Feldman, Hyperallergic, April 2023, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda” by Mohamed Amer Meziane and Anissa Touati, Flash Art, p. 40-51.
“Les œuvres d’art immanquables de la foire Paris Internationale” by Matthieu Jacquet, Numéro, 20 October 2023.

2022
“Monia Ben Hamouda: In-between” by Federico Montagna, L’Essenziale Studio, March 2022, print.
“Monia Ben Hamouda and Michele Gabriele: ASHES/ASHES” by Gabriel H. Sanchez, ArtForum, 1 November 2022.
“Zwischen Gewalt und Heilung” by Alexandra Wach, ART – Das Kunstmagazin, October 2022, p. 96 – 97.
“Monia Ben Hamouda” by Brainard Carey, Yale University Radio, 29 September 2022, online.
“Coexistence: Monia Ben Hamouda and Michele Gabriele interviewed by Elizaveta Shneyderman, by Elizaveta Shneyderman, Bomb Magazine, 8 August 2022, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda “Hamra” at Ariel – Feminism in the Aestethics, Copenaghen”, Mousse, 30 May 2022, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda: Hamra”, Kuba Paris, May 2022, online.

2021
“Wenn der Stammbaum knurrt Monia Ben Hamouda im ChertLüdde Bungalow” by Lara Brörken, GalleryTalk.net, 13 October 2021, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda “Night of Hinnā” at Bungalow/ChertLüdde”, Mousse, 21 October 2021, online.

Catalogues – Publications:

Catalogue: “Path of Totality”, Published by Mousse Publishing, December 2025
Catalogue: “Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat” edited by Stadt Wien Kunst GmbH/Kunsthalle Wien, 2024; ISBN: 97839034121632020
“Flatland Reader,” edited by Nuno Patricio, O Fluxo Editions, 2020, Lisboa, PT. ISBN: 9781714564620
Catalogue: “Ducato Prize 2020,” Ducato Prize, online.2018
“Young Black Romantics,” published and edited by Ndayé Kouagou, 2018. Paris