Monia Ben Hamouda Tunisian, Italian, b. 1991
65.35h x 38.98w x 0.01d in
In this work, titled Aniconism as Figuration Urgency (Post-Scriptum VI), the artist continues her exploration of abstraction as a means of evasion and revelation. Borrowing from the tradition of Aniconism in Islamic visual culture, she engages historical strategies that circumvent figuration, instead embedding hidden forms within suspended steel structures. These sculptures, at once massive and ephemeral, are coated with layers of fragrant spices, whose tactile presence evokes medicinal, ceremonial, and culinary practices that span centuries.
Working in tension with the tradition of aniconism—which favours text or ornament over figurative representation—she explores the relationships between the histories of Middle Eastern and Western European art. Inspired by Najdi poetry, a vernacular form of prose that emerged in the 16th century in the Arabian Peninsula, the artist presents a sculpture that treats language as a form in constant transformation. In this context, poetry circulates like a traveling voice, becoming material and rhythm.
Challenging gravity, the large-scale, spice-covered steel sculpture is suspended in the space. It invites the viewer into an act of interpretation or reading that may ultimately remain inaccessible.