We were delighted to host Fredj Moussa for a two-month research residency at L’Atelier, Bhar Lazreg, where he experimented for the first time with clay locally sourced, repurposed fabrics, drawing inspiration from traditional dyeing techniques and the material memory that textiles can hold.
“It is not a mere intervention draped on architecture, but rather a new architecture that he has articulated within the walls of the studio. It is not so much to hide, to conceal as it is to reveal the surfaces; the fabric comes to fix the earth rather than to cover it. Draped and dried, the textile retains gestures, forming what Moussa calls “phantoms of motion”. Paradoxically and intentionally, the works dematerialize even as they build, opening apertures through which questions might surface. Amid these fabric structures, spiritual amulets hang like talismans. The forms that emerge, at once garment, sculpture, and shelter, suggest bodies in potential, sculptures that act as costumes interchangeably, awaiting activation through the artist’s cinematographic work. Within this constellation lie the first fragments of his forthcoming film, in which poems by Ahmadou Bamba will appear; a gesture that bears a basculement géographique, a turning of gaze: from previous adaptations of European texts toward voices and narratives that stem from the African continent itself.”
Excerpt Text by Racha Khemiri
About
Born 1992.
Lives and works in Sousse, Tunisia.
He studied at Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains from 2021 to 2023.
In 2024, he is was resident at Villa Medici in Rome.
His practice unfolds at the intersection of film, wearable sculpture, and painting. Working with oral histories, mythical fragments, he creates landscapes where fiction becomes a mode of resistance. Through videos, hand-painted posters, and costumes made from discarded materials, he fabricates speculative narratives that blur the lines between document and myth.
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Fredj Moussa Open Studio
