Zineb Sedira Explained

Zineb Sedira
Birth Place:	Paris, France
Field:	Photography and video
Movement:	Modernism

Zineb Sedira (born April 1, 1963) is a London-based Franco-Algerian feminist photographer and video artist, best known for work exploring the human relationship to geography.

Sedira was shortlisted for the 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.^[1]

Early life and education

Zineb Sedira was born on April 1, 1963, to Abdul Rahman Sedira and Oumessaad Rouabah, immigrants from Algeria, in the Parisian suburb of Gennevilliers.^[2] She moved to England in 1986.^[3]

Sedira received a BA in Critical Fine Art Practice at London's Central Saint Martins, then earned an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 1997. She later spent five years doing research at the Royal College of Art.^{[4] [3]}

Career

Sedira's early work focused on images of women in the Muslim world, featuring photographs of her mother and her daughter. Watching her mother don the haik upon arrival in Algiers had a significant impact on Sedira. "I remember as soon as we got off the plane and arrived at her home, she would open the case and put it out," she said in 2013. "She would change into it. She would become it."^[3] Her video, Mother Tongue (2002) shows herself, her daughter, and her mother speaking in their "mother tongues", French, English, and Arabic respectively, with Sedira acting as the linguistic conduit between her mother and her daughter who don't have a language in common.^[5]  In September 2020 it was announced that Sedira will represent France at the 59th Venice Biennale, in 2022.^[6] She created an installation named “dreams have no titles” where she converted the French pavilion into a film studio and a screening room paying tribute to the 1960s and 1970s militant films and referencing also to her own family’s history as immigrants in France.

Exhibitions

• 2004: Zineb Sedira: Telling stories with differences, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
• 2005: British Art Show 06, opening at Baltic, Gateshead, touring to Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol.
• 2006: Saphir, The Photographers' Gallery, London^[7]
• 2007: Saphir, Temble Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
• 2007: Videos by Zineb Sedira, Centre d'Art Contemporain du Parvis, Pau, France
• 2008: MiddleSea, The Wapping Project, London^[8]
• 2009: Floating Coffins, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK^[9]
• 2009: Zineb Sedira: Seafaring, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
• 2009: Under the Sky and Over the Sea, Pori Art Museum, Finland
• 2010: Zineb Sedira,, La Guerre et la Paix, Vallauris, France
• 2010: Gardiennes d'images, Palais de Tokyo, Paris^[10]
• 2011: Beneath the Surface, Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris
• 2013: The Voyage, or Three Years at Sea Part V: Zineb Sedira, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, Canada^[11]
• 2016: Collecting Lines, Art on the Underground, London^[12]
• 2018: Of Words and Stones, curated by Marie Muracciole at the Beirut Art Center, Lebanon^[13]
• 2018: Zineb Sedira: Air Affairs and Maritime Nonsense, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. A retrospective.^[14]

Collections

Sedira's work is held in the following public collections:

• Arts Council Collection, UK: 1 print (as of July 2021)^[15]
• Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris: 7 prints (as of July 2021)^[16]
• Musée national de l'histoire et des cultures de l'immigration / Cité nationale de l'histoire, Paris: 1 video installation, "Mother Tongue" (as of July 2021)^[17]
• Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates^[18]
• Tate, London: 2 works (as of July 2021)^[19]
• Mumok, Museumsquartier, Vienna: 1 work, "The House of the Mother (Algeria)" (as of July 2021)^[20]
• Victoria and Albert Museum, Contemporary Wall Paper Collections, London: 1 work, "Une Generation des Femmes" (as of July 2021)^[21]
• Whitworth Art Gallery, Contemporary Wall Paper Collections, Manchester: 1 work, "Une Generation des Femmes" (as of July 2021)^[22]

Awards

• 1999 Artsadmin Artists Bursary, London & Artists film and video national fund, The Arts Council of England
• 2000 Westminster Arts Council, Film and Video Bursaries, London
• 2001 Prix AfAA, Laureat 2001: IV Rencontres de la photographie africaine, Bamako 2001, Mali
• 2004 Decibel Award, Arts Council, London
• 2009: SAM Art Prize, Paris
• 2021: Shortlisted, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, London for the exhibition Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go at Jeu de Paume, Paris in 2019; along with Poulomi Basu, Alejandro Cartagena and Cao Fei^{[23] [24] [25]}

Further reading

• Book: Lloyd. Fran. Contemporary Arab Women's Art: Dialogues of the Present. Keelan. Siumee H.. England). Hot Bath Gallery (Bath. 1999. WAL. 978-1-902770-00-0. 2, 28–30, 36–37, 49, 67–68, 144–145, 213–218, 240, 246, 250, 252–253. en.
• Letort. Cherel. 2014. Women on the Algerian Art Scene: Interrogating the Postcolonial Gaze through Documentary and Video Art. Black Camera. 6. 1. 193. 10.2979/blackcamera.6.1.193. 10.2979/blackcamera.6.1.193. 191602194.
• McGonagle. Joseph. 2011. Travelling in Circles: Postcolonial Algiers in Zineb Sedira's "Saphir". L'Esprit Créateur. 51. 1. 26–37. 26290019. 0014-0767.
• Book: Amer, Sahar. What is Veiling?. 2014-09-09. Edinburgh University Press. 978-0-7486-9684-0. en.
• Book: Thomas. Kylie. Photography in and out of Africa: Iterations with Difference. Green. Louise. 2018-02-02. Routledge. 978-1-317-35824-4. en.
• Encyclopedia: Shilton. Siobhan. Transcultural Encounters in Contemporary Art. Keown. M.. https://books.google.com/books?id=NoiFDAAAQBAJ&q=Sedira. Comparing Postcolonial Diasporas. Murphy. D.. Procter. J.. 2009-01-15. Springer. 978-0-230-23278-5. 56–58. en.
• Book: Salami. Gitti. A Companion to Modern African Art. Visona. Monica Blackmun. 2013. John Wiley & Sons. 978-1-118-51505-1. 212, 501. en.
• McGonagle. Joseph. Sedira. Zineb. March 2006. Translating Differences: An Interview with Zineb Sedira. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. en. 31. 3. 617–628. 10.1086/498990. 146212580. 0097-9740.
• “Zineb Sedira in conversation with Christine Van Assche,” Zineb Sedira, Saphir (Paris: Kamel Mennour & Paris Musées, 2006), 58–59.
• Richard Dyer, “Saphir,” Zineb Sedira: The Photographer's Gallery (London: Kamel Mennour & Paris Musées, 2006).
• Isabelle Perbal, “Entretien Zineb Sedira, Retour aux origins,” Qantara, October 2008.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2021-07-14. This year's Deutsche Börse prize shortlist is fascinating – but is it photography?. O'Hagan. Sean. Sean O'Hagan. 10 November 2020. The Guardian.
2. Cotter, Holland. "'Zineb Sedira: Present Tense' at the Taymour Grahne Gallery". 14 January 2016. Accessed 5 March 2016.
3. Lambelin, Joke. "This is My Body: Sedira's Eyes . Al Arte Magazine. 19 January 2013. Accessed 5 March 2016.
4. "Biography". zinebsedira.com. Accessed 5 March 2016.
5. Web site: Zineb Sedira. www.guggenheim.org. en-US. 11 March 2017.
6. Web site: French Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. 2020-09-30. www.e-flux.com. en.
7. News: Zineb Sedira: Saphir. 19 February 2018. The Photographers' Gallery. 18 March 2018.
8. Web site: MiddleSea. Artsadmin. en. 18 March 2018.
9. Web site: Floating Coffins. www.nae.org.uk. en. 18 March 2018.
10. Web site: Gardiennes d'images (Image Keepers), 2010 :: zinebsedira.com. www.zinebsedira.com. en. 18 March 2018.
11. Web site: Zineb SediraThe Voyage, or Three Years at Sea Part V - Announcements - Art & Education. www.artandeducation.net. en. 18 March 2018.
12. News: Underline: Collecting Lines - Art on the Underground. Art on the Underground. 18 March 2018.
13. Web site: Zineb Sedira: Of Words and Stones. 2021-01-03. www.e-flux.com. en.
14. Web site: Yasmeen. Siddiqui. 2021-07-15. Six Shows in Sharjah Challenge Curators to Look Beyond the Usual Suspects. 15 August 2018. Hyperallergic.
15. Web site: 2021-07-15. Sedira, Zineb. www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk.
16. Web site: 2021-07-15. Zineb Sedira. Centre Pompidou.
17. Web site: 2021-07-15. Sedira Zineb. Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration.
18. Web site: 2021-07-15. Zineb Sedira. sharjahart.org.
19. Web site: 2021-07-15. Zineb Sedira born 1963. Tate.
20. Web site: Zineb Sedira. www.mumok.at.
21. Web site: 2021-07-15. Une Generation des Femmes: Sedira, Zineb. Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. 1997 .
22. Web site: 2021-07-15. Bodies of Colour: Breaking With Stereotypes in the Wallpaper Collection. Whitworth Art Gallery.
23. Web site: 2021-07-14. The 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography prize sheds light on global issues. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/2021-deutsche-borse-photography-prize-b1867849.html . 7 May 2022 . subscription . live. 28 June 2021. The Independent.
24. News: 2021-07-14. The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2021. The Times.
25. Web site: Matthew. Ponsford. 2021-07-14. Prestigious photo prize honors docu-fiction on India's hidden war. CNN. 25 June 2021 .