Monia Ben Hamouda, Installation Views of 'Solo Show' , curated by Simone Frangi and Barbara Boninsegna, Centrale Fies, Italy. 2026. photos by Roberta Segata, Courtesy Centrale Fies.
Monia Ben Hamouda
Solo Show, Centrale Fies, Dro, Trentino, Italy
curated by Simone Frangi and Barbara Boninsegna
16 Jul — 26 Jul 2026
Presented as the centerpiece of Centrale Fies' 2026 summer programme, Monia Ben Hamouda's solo exhibition, titled Solo Show transformed the space into an landscape of monumental sculptures, sand, spices, language and memory. Bringing together works in steel, sand and organic materials, the exhibition explored the artist's ongoing investigation into the ways cultural inheritances are transmitted, transformed and reimagined across time.
Ben Hamouda's practice moves between the histories of Middle Eastern and Western European art, approaching language as a living material capable of shifting, evolving and generating new meanings. At the core of the exhibition was the legacy of Islamic calligraphy passed down by her father, treated not as a fixed tradition but as a dynamic source through which new forms and relationships emerge.
Drawing on the tradition of aniconism, as well as Najdi poetry, a vernacular poetic form originating in the Arabian Peninsula, the works resisted singular interpretation. Suspended steel sculptures appeared to defy gravity, while sand slowly spread throughout the exhibition, introducing an ongoing process of transformation. Rather than evoking decay, this gradual accumulation reflected on time, migration, the layering of histories and the ways memories are preserved, altered and carried forward.
