Monia Ben Hamouda: Production Residency For Exhibition

  • About

    About

    Born 1991. Milan, Italy

    Lives and works between al-Qayrawan, Tunisia and Milan, Italy.

     

    Monia Ben Hamouda is a Tunisian-Italian visual artist.

     

    Following the belief that each individual is inextricably connected to their family tree and the psychological universe of their ancestors, Ben Hamouda attempts to master her influences in a contemporary and constantly changing landscape. Born into a Muslim community as the daughter of an Islamic calligrapher, she navigates and confronts her generational heritage through what she calls a shamanic process – creating works that act as gestural exorcisms of the expectations placed upon her by tradition and the politicized present, drawing their power from the urgency of expression. Her visual language, which translates into a broad range of formal approaches, is steeped in cultural-religious symbology and rituals.

     

    Ben Hamouda’s work has been shown in several international institutions and biennials, such as the 14th edition of the Taipei Biennial (2025), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; Museo Casa Rusca, Locarno, Switzerland; MUSEION Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano, Italy; MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, and MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art, Italy.

     

    Her works can be found in public collections such as MAXXI, Rome; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes; Museion, Bolzano; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; TBA21 Thyssen - Bornemisza Collection, Madrid; and FRAC Corsica, Corse.

     

    She earned a BFA at Brera Academy of Fine Art in Milan and is currently an Affiliated artist resident at the American Academy in Rome. She was awarded with the Maxxi Bvlgari Prize (2024), the Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation Grant (2024), the Fondazione Merz Prize (2024), the Museion Audience Award (2024), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2022), the Italian Council for Contemporary Art (2023; 2024).

  • Work in Progress
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
  • Drawing inspiration from ancient artefacts such as the Rosetta Stone, Ben Hamouda imagines alternative historical narratives and questions our understanding of ancient civilisations as if essential translations had never taken place. The artist alludes to ‘prehistoric’ art forms, such as cave paintings and pieces of marble carved with a language that has yet to emerge. She suggests that language itself could be treated as a sculptural material, adaptable to fit our diverse cultures.
     
    Her approach to linguistic architecture parallels the monumentality of language history. Her use of ancient inscriptions alike embodies the weight of cultural memory and the power of words to transcend time. In the artist’s work, language becomes a monument that simultaneously evokes recognition and eludes complete understanding.