Path of Totality
Curated by Gioia Dal Molin
Museo Casa Rusca, Locarno
20 September 2025 – 11 January 2026

Path of Totality is the first major institutional solo exhibition in Switzerland by Monia Ben Hamouda (born in 1991 in Milan, lives and works in Milan). Over the past few years, Monia has developed a unique and distinctive artistic uni-verse and has shown her work in national and international exhibitions. In particular, the use of spices and other natural ingredients as colouring materials and the engagement with the Arab culture are recurring elements in her sculptures, installations, and paintings. The works have a sensual quality. And yes, they are beautiful too, and the spices sometimes make my nose itch.  On the second floor of the Museum Casa Rusca, Monia has created two complementary spaces or lookouts that impressively represent the breadth  of her artistic practice: a dark section with dark walls and a large installation made of raw wooden beams, and a lighter section bathed in orange light by two suns. The presentation of the works  on display is conceived in and with the existing architectural structures of the Casa Rusca.

In astronomy, the term ‘Path of Totality’ refers to the area of the Earth where a total solar eclipse can be seen. The moon completely covers the sun and, for a moment, darkness descends. For Monia, the exhibition title refers to the current state of the world, which finds itself in a moment of dark- ness due to wars, the acute climate crisis, and  the resurgence of fascist or racist ideologies.  A darkness that also manifests itself in her artistic practice. As an exhibition project, Path of Totality is therefore not only an intense and comprehensive insight into Monia’s practice, but also a look at the state of the world. A reflection  on the here and now. Monia positions her artistic work, as well as herself as an artist, in close connection to the political context in which we live. Her gestures and her work always have also a political dimension.