Ghada Amer at Mucem, Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Chapelle du Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France

2 DEC 2022 - 16 APR 2023

Ghada Amer, Witches and Bitches. Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte D'Azur. Courtesy of  Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte D'Azur

This is the first retrospective of Ghada Amer in France, to be held in three venues in Marseille. This exhibition brings together the different media of the artist’s aesthetic language, from her beginnings to her most recent creations. 

Ghada Amer, Witches and Bitches. © Laurent Lecat / Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Ghada Amer, Witches and Bitches. © Laurent Lecat / Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Ghada Amer, Witches and Bitches. © Laurent Lecat / Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Ghada Amer, Witches and Bitches. © Laurent Lecat / Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Painting is at the core of her creative process, but over the years she has expanded her language to sculpture through ceramics, bronze and garden installations. Between East and West, Ghada Amer questions representations, relationships of domination, processes of assimilation, opposition or translation from one culture to another. Today she is a major voice for post-colonial and feminist issues in contemporary creation.

'Ghada Amer, Sculpteure' at Centre de la Vieille Charité. Photo by Jean Christophe Lett

The Ghada Amer exhibition was designed and organized by the Mucem, Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in partnership with the Museums of Marseille-Centre de la Vieille Charité and the Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Read the interview with Hélia Paukner and Philippe Dagen, curators of the retrospective.

Mucem, Ghada Amer, Scénographie Studio Matters, décembre 2022 © Grégoire Edouard, Mucem

Mucem, Ghada Amer, Scénographie Studio Matters, décembre 2022 © Grégoire Edouard, Mucem

Mucem, Ghada Amer, Scénographie Studio Matters, décembre 2022 © Grégoire Edouard, Mucem

A Woman’s Voice Is Revolution 

This is the first sculpture garden in Arabic by Ghada Amer: the translated title of this work. Created for the Mucem, Fort Saint-Jean - Garden of Migration, a decade after the end of the Arab Spring to greet the women whose voices were heard then. 

The materials used underline the subversive and emancipatory value of the phrase thus created. Filled with coal, the letters of the inscription evoke the fire of revolt. They contrast with the bluish foliage of the Corsican helichrysum, a Mediterranean plant with healing properties, also known as Immortelle.

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Ghada Amer, A Woman’s Voice Is Revolution, 2022 © Filippo Vancini and Lucas Calloch