
Night of Hinnā (Aamti Saadiya) II, 2021
The series Night of Hinnā (2021) is a questioning of the artist’s identity through multiple lenses– that of her innermost self, her Arab family, and the western world. The sculptures, laced with hennā and drawn in a nontraditional, western design, are scaled to the artist’s hands– albeit slightly tight. Like a pair of ill-fitting gloves, Ben Hamouda’s dim memory of decorating limbs reflects the paradox of a gesture that feels at once familiar and alien, the ownership of which is the artist’s key to understanding her own personal history.

Monia Ben Hamouda, Night of Hinnā (Aamti Saadiya) II, 2021; Installation view at Night of Hinnā, Bungalow, 2021; Synthetic leather, henna, iron wire, Dimensions variable
Photo by Andrea Rossetti.