Running until July 20, Tunisian cultural hotspot B7L9 Art Centre is currently playing host to an exhibition centered around the life and work of late Algerian artist Hamid Zenati. Produced by the Kamel Lazaar Foundation in collaboration with the Hamid Zénati Estate and the Goethe-Institut, the initiative is showcasing many of Zenati’s works from over the years, including hand-painted textiles, wall frescoes, sketchbooks, ceramics, photographs, garments, and transformed everyday objects.
Curated by Egyptian multihyphenate Nadine Nour el Din, with the support of German journalist and author Anna Schneider, the exhibition unfolds as a sensory journey through the late artist’s singular universe where memory, exile, and abstraction converge and are celebrated.
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To mark the occasion, interdisciplinary artist Dana El Masri has created two original fragrances—Nafs and Joy —designed to extend the exhibition into the realm of scent. These olfactory compositions invite visitors to engage with Zénati’s world on another level, one we are less used to seeing, blurring the boundaries between visual art and emotion, and echoing the artist’s belief that creativity is a total, immersive experience.
Born in Constantine in 1944, Zénati spent much of his life in Munich after emigrating to West Germany in the 1960s. A self-taught artist unconstrained by academic conventions, he developed an instinctive practice that went beyond conventional categories of art. He notably allowed textile, painting, ceramics, and design to merge into one expansive visual language he spoke fluently.
With just about a month left before the exhibition shuts its doors, ‘The Birds Are Chirping Above the Tree’ offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the mind of one of Algeria’s flag bearers, making it an unmissable experience for anyone in or passing through Tunis this summer.
