Photo Tarz Fessi school & Tarz Fessi archive piece by Saida Bennoude Azzabi
New work: Art She Crafted
Researching historical female artistic space
"Art She Crafted" is an artistic investigation in which Rajae and her platform Ellae look at the World Museum's collection from a female lens, considering the work of makers from different cultures, generations and socioeconomic positions.
During Home, Uprooted #2 and the subsequent Modest Fashion exhibition, we looked at the role that women, 100 years after obtaining women's suffrage in the Netherlands -may- occupy in the arts, with contemporary art and fashion as a starting point. Now we look at the historical space that women -were- allowed to occupy artistically and, above all, seek out and question blind spots.
Art She Crafted Vol. 1
In Art She Crafted Vol. 1, we highlight the archive of master embroiderer and artist Saida Bennoude Azzabi. She is a master of the Tarz-Fessi embroidery technique, which is deeply rooted in Morocco's traditional textile heritage. Her work is steeped in spiritual meaning and artistic expression, and she is committed to the preservation and continuation of this ancient tradition.
Photo embroidery - Being seen on your own terms
For spiritual reasons, Saida Bennoude Azzabi chooses anonymity as agency. She employs photo embroidery as a technique to anonymize herself in photographs. For the exhibition, she printed a childhood portrait on linen and embroidered directly onto the image. With threads and pixels, she explores ways to combine her art through a new medium, such as photography, with Tarz-Fessi.
With "Art She Crafted ," we celebrate craftsmanship and art, and with it the heritage and maker, that have long gone unseen and underappreciated. First-generation diaspora makers carry with them a wealth of traditions, knowledge and art forms. Saida Bennoude Azzabi is a maker and artist who has accumulated a large private archive over 60 years. Her Tarz-Fessi archive now has significant historical value.
Saida Bennoude Azzabi does not sell her work, but builds her archive for her family and shares her work with a wide audience for the first time at the World Museum.
Exhibition Period: 08 June 2023 - 22 October 2023
Location: World Museum Rotterdam