In Tunis, returning to exhibit in her hometown for the first time, Nadia Ayari presents a dense and layered body of work in which abstraction becomes a space of resistance. Drawing on the legacy of Abstract Expressionism while engaging with ecological imaginaries, her paintings generate narratives from within the material itself.
Nadia Ayari, Bound, 2025, huile sur toile de lin, 88,9 × 118,1 cm. Courtesy de la Selma Feriani Gallery.
Curated by Fawz Kabra, this solo exhibition marks a key moment in a practice that has consistently explored painting’s capacity to carry historical, ecological, and identity-based narratives. Stylized botanical forms move through saturated atmospheres, negotiating gravity, light, and instability. Thick, stratified surfaces seem to pulse with an internal rhythm, resisting erasure and the passage of time.
Materiality is fundamental to Ayari’s work. Each painting develops through successive layers of oil paint, some thin and diluted, others dense and tactile, creating a physical relief that pushes painting toward sculpture. The process unfolds through cycles of expansion and contraction, giving the image an almost organic presence. “Building the skin with brushes,” as the artist puts it. Drying time, addition, and removal become structuring elements of the work.
Motifs drawn from Maghrebi flora such as figs, leaves, and branches structure her visual language. Repeated and reworked, these forms move between the organic and the artificial, reflecting the tensions of the Anthropocene. They become metaphors for survival, mutation, and transformation.
