Ameni Abida Celebrates Tunisian Summers at Wusum Gallery

It is not difficult to get pulled into Ameni Abida’s story of nostalgic longing for family holidays. Especially when you have a convincing and talented videographer, the artist herself, recording the important moments that leave an imprint on your mind thus making the artworks created from these specific moments, even more credible and alluring. Ameni presents Un été à Hammamet, an ode to her native Tunisia, at Wusum Gallery which will be on view till September 5, 2024.

Ameni Abida invites viewers to experience the essence of a Tunisian summer with its blue skies and azure seas, the scent of jasmine hanging heavy in the air, and the familiar rhythm of family rituals. Depicting intimate scenes of her emotional landscapes, Ameni delves into the themes of longing and belonging. From family rituals of cooking and eating together to playful togetherness of cousins in water and beaches, the exhibition is reminiscent of the pleasures of home coming.

Ameni had a life that was not indicative of her current preoccupation. A graduate from Georgetown University on Culture and Politics and a Masters in Museum and Gallery Practice from University College London, she is currently working at Qatar Museum’s latest project the Qatar Auto Museum. Her professional life has little bearing on her art life which is entirely based on nostalgia and personal longing for a life cocooned with love and family.

“All changed when COVID hit,” remembers Ameni, “I started painting but never with the intention of taking it beyond a hobby.”

“I was stuck in a phase of unemployment in the 2020s which dragged me further into my artistic pursuits and this time through NFTs. It was a very surprising for me but I was selling a lot of digital art. I joined an online art collective called Cyberbaat, which was composed of African artists from all over the world. We participated and curated many exhibitions, and were even featured in Art Dubai in 2022. The shift from digital to physical art happened quite organically afterwards,” explains Ameni.

But soon in 2023, after the Crypto crash, when the NFT market slowed down quite a lot, Ameni slowly turned to physical paintings to further explore her new found passion.

It was around this time that Ameni met Elina Sairanen, Gallery Director at Wusum Gallery and shared her portfolio of work which instantly sparked the curator’s interest.

Ameni has since then been part of numerous exhibitions within Wusum Gallery. This has created opportunities for Ameni to experiment and grow with art.

 Learning Processes

While Ameni had already participated in numerous group shows at Wusum Gallery this is her first solo exhibition and we ask if the pressure has been immense.

She says, “It was more pleasure than pressure.”

While the entire art she produced was made for the exhibition, Ameni has also included a few of her previous NFTs to her exhibition, which portrays the same dedication and love for her family that her physical artwork shows.

The first 12 set is a showcase of the gardens of Tunisia and like the entire exhibition is an ode for the longing for Ameni’s home town and more so her summers in Tunisia. All the artwork, highlights moments of joy and togetherness, of gardens and pools and mealtimes. The mood of nostalgic longing makes the artworks a very personal showcase of moments that means a lot to the artist.

Many of the paintings have a red dot near them, indicating a sold piece of work, which instils joy in this new artist who is also a self-learned one.

To solve her logistics requirements, Ameni found a new technique of drawing on smaller A3 sized papers which then forms a complete set together with the visible demarcations. This adds a new layer of depth, thus creating a form of art that is typically Ameni’s own.

Ameni also uses different mediums; Uzbek paper made from Mulberry trees, and some works on wood and this interesting play of materials and the effect of paint on them adds to the value of her creations.

Ameni always has an idea of what she is creating before she puts paint to paper, but the colours used and the shades that come out are purely unplanned and it comes out spontaneously, sometimes depending on the mood she is in on that particular day.

Ameni is preparing for the next exhibition with Wusum Gallery and it is a small series on her Grandmother’s garden.

“The new series is on Papyrus paper from Egypt and the effect created is very beautiful,” says Ameni, excited about the new series that she is working on.

The art scene in the Middle East is thriving she says with so many small galleries sprouting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, creating opportunities for more artists from the region to appreciate and be involved in the art scene.
“That is the reason why having a gallery like Wusum with an international presence is so important and the fact that it is encouraging new artists, makes us hopeful for a thriving art community in Doha,” stresses Ameni.

All Photographs Courtesy Wusum Gallery

Main Image Photographed by Mo’men Ghanim.