Mohamed Amine Ben Hamouda has developed a body of work closely linked to the oasis of Gabès in southern Tunisia, the only maritime oasis in the Mediterranean. Over the years, he has reflected on the continuous degradation of this fragile ecosystem, developing a laboratory of material transformation and an artistic vocabulary directly inspired by the characteristics of its landscape.

Through this series, Mohamed Amine Ben Hamouda continues his research into materials native to the region and to the Mediterranean oases of Gabès. By integrating and expanding the textures and palm-frond weaving techniques traditionally practiced by local craftswomen -while paying particular attention to the value of the residues and waste generated through this craft - he works with the raw material that forms the foundation of his artistic practice.

The project explores new possibilities and hypotheses for combining fibres extracted from organic waste with artisanal knowledge passed down through generations, while extending the visual heritage of the region.

This fusion emerges as a sensory and visual exploration of materials drawn from a single oasis, offering an abstract reinterpretation of the oasis landscape through its various manifestations, forms, seasonal transformations, condition, and paradoxical reality. Lines and surfaces stretch horizontally, varying in texture, colour, and density, echoing the oasis farmer who divides the land into rectangular horizontal plots cultivated according to the seasons; basins of differing heights, scales, and colours.

What makes this series particularly distinctive is its use of local plant-based dyes that grow wild along waterways, notably madder (Al-Foua), considered one of the region’s most important dye plants since the Carthaginian era and long before. The work ultimately raises broader questions: how can textile translate the landscape and chromatic system of a region? Does this reside in the raw material itself, in the technique employed, or in the underlying narratives woven into its very structure?