Curated by Olfa Feki
Until 27 September 2026
La Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille, France
Nidhal Chamekh is currently participating in Traversées, a group exhibition produced by lille3000 as part of the Saison Méditerranée 2026.
The exhibition considers exile not only as a geographical experience, but also as a condition shaped by memory, identity, and belonging.
Within this context, and created in collaboration with Lasaad Ben Seghaier, Chamekh’s installation brings together found objects, discarded materials, and references that span personal histories and ancient narratives. Through a series of assemblages, the works explore movement not as a destination, but as a continuous condition. Drawing connections between Tunisia and France, they reflect on labour, displacement, and the ways personal and collective histories are carried, transformed, and reassembled over time.
FEATURED WORKS
Angelus Novus, 2026
Reconstituted marble statue, washing machine, electrical system.
65 x 55 x 175 cm
This installation pays tribute to Paul Klee’s famous painting Angelus Novus, which philosopher Walter Benjamin described as the “Angel of History.” In Benjamin’s text, the angel gazes upon the past and sees a growing pile of ruins, while a storm—Progress—pushes him relentlessly into the future. Here, the myth is reinterpreted with tragic irony: the angel has lost his wings in a domestic machine that endlessly churns the debris of the past.
Ode to my Father, 2026
Scaffolding, sewing machine, statue, motors, wood, objects, video.
130 x 115 x 290 cm
This installation rises like a tower of memory. It pays tribute to the father of one of the artists, a tailor whose precision and craftsmanship shaped his earliest artistic sensibility.
At the top of the structure, a sewing machine and workshop tools converse with the melancholic figure of the funerary statue of Marcellus. Between its fingers, a glass marble evokes both the sphere of thought and the games of childhood. Meanwhile, a screen continuously plays the voiceover of a documentary about a garment factory in Tunisia. These images reveal the social realities of the textile industry, a production system marked by the violent Western exploitation of bodies and resources.
The Return of the Reaper (Work in Progress), 2026
Mixed media: padded bags and suitcases, wooden crate, synthetic plaster stele, straps, and ropes
75 x 80 x 220 cm
The third part of this triptych, this installation remains unfinished. For now, it stands as a monolith of stacked and strapped objects, gathering at its base the domestic attributes of exile: antique furniture, suitcases, and “Tati” bags.
The top of the structure is intended to house a replica of the Epitaph of the Reaper of Mactar, an ancient stele celebrating the rise of an agricultural worker through his labor.
This transhistorical dialogue seeks to honor the dignity of those who left their homeland to work abroad. The final lines of the inscription serve as a reminder:
“Mortals, learn to live without reproach; whoever has lived honorably has deserved to die the same way.” The so-called Epitaph of the Reaper of Mactar originates from our native region. Long housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, it was recently relocated to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Having shifted from one center of Western influence to another, it has become physically inaccessible. For months, we have been working under complex and restrictive protocols to gain access to the stele and carry out a 3D scan. This process will enable us to produce the missing replica and, in a sense, reclaim the memory and symbolism of this confined object
