Jellel Gasteli

Born 1958. Tunis, Tunisia

Lives & Works Tunis, Tunisia

 

After working and living in between Paris and Tunis, he now lives in Tunisia.

He graduated in 1985 from the Ecole Nationale de la Photographie in Paris.

 

His photographical work is intimately linked to his bicultural identity background. His dual Franco-Tunisian cultural affiliation. His best-known work is “La serie Blanche.“

This minimalist series of large format silver prints is based on the play of light and shadow geometry on traditional whitewashed architectures and was the subject of a monographic exhibition.

 

He is regularly the guest of public institutions and participates in cultural events dedicated to African artists, such as, among others, the Eclipse series presented as part of the Africa Remix exhibition in 2005, Pluriels, a series of portraits of Tunisians from of a double culture which was presented in 2006 to the Institute of the Arab world within the framework of the exhibition Regard of contemporary Arab photographers, the presentation of the video installation 2134 TU 74 at the meetings of Bamako in 2007, its participation at the second biennial of Picha meetings in Lubumbashi in 2010, where he presented a transversal vision of Africa entitled Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.

 

His limited editions large prints are mainly shown in prestigious group exhibitions related to contemporary African artists but are also part of private and public contemporary art collections such as Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Arab World Institute, Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, Solomon R. Guggenheim in New-York, Museum Kunst Palast, in Düsseldorf and the Sindika Dokolo Fundation, in Luanda.