This series emerged following a collective exhibition in Paris centered on the value of handcraft and the transmission of artisanal knowledge across generations. During the exhibition, Mohamed Amine Hamouda encountered the work of a Mongolian artist based in Germany who revives ancestral techniques once used to create woolen tents capable of protecting nomadic communities from extreme cold. Her approach deeply resonated with him and reaffirmed his own attachment to natural materials and local fibers, whether vegetal or animal.

While white wool remains common and widely used, Hamouda’s interest lies instead in the brown wool known as Tibar, named after the region of Tibar in the governorate of Béja, Tunisia. It comes from one of Tunisia’s most distinguished sheep breeds, developed through the crossing of French Black Merino d’Arles rams with local Arab ewes in order to produce a breed resistant to disease, adapted to the local climate, and capable of yielding both high-quality wool and meat.

This wool, dark brown and nearly black in tone, is remarkably soft and dense, covering the animal’s entire body, including the face and legs. To the artist, it is among the noblest materials in Tunisia, yet it remains largely overlooked and insufficiently valued.

Although it may appear ordinary to many, Hamouda regards this wool as a material of profound dignity — much like palm fiber, alfa grass, or reed — precisely because it springs from this land. It deserves to be treated as a form of national wealth.

Using this wool, he created a series of imaginary portraits of palm trees from Gabès. These works evoke patience, resilience, and endurance in the face of the many forms of suffering experienced by the oasis and its palms. Rather than pursuing botanical precision or technical virtuosity, the artist seeks a spontaneous and intuitive form of expression, one that remains difficult to attain.

The series is shaped by the sensibility of a child of the oasis, attempting to portray a thousand palm trees, leaf by leaf, frond by frond.