ZINEB SEDIRA | SUGAR ROUTES #1

The Third Line, Dubai 

Zineb Sedira (b. 1963) was born in Paris to Algerian parents. She received a BA from Central Saint Martins School of Art, London; in 1995, an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 1997, and subsequently went on to study photography at the Royal College of Art, London.

Embodying a present day globalized, multicultural identity, Sedira’s polyphonic vocabulary is the result of her sustained exploration into portraiture, landscapes, language and archival research. Working with photography, film, sculpture and installations, her artistic oeuvre spans documentary and fiction, with her more recent works taking a more poetic, lyrical tone. In particular, Sedira examines the conventional gender roles of Arab women. Blending the personal with the political in powerfully profound works, Sedira questions complicated notions as to who has the right to be the custodian of such a precious, personal archive in an era of post-colonialism.

Sedira’s work has been included in many solo exhibitions such as, L’ Espace d'un instant, Jeu de Paume, Paris (2019); Zineb Sedira @ NOW 5, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (2019); Laughter in Hell, kamel mennour, Paris (2018); Of Words and Stones, Beirut Art Center, Beirut (2018); Air Affairs and Maritime NonSense, Sharjah Art Foundation Art Spaces, Sharjah (2018); Now you see me - now you see me, VCUQ Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth Universtiy, Doha (2016); Disenchanted Matters, Plutschow & Felchlin, Zurich (2014); Maritime Chronicles, Galleria Riccardo Crespi, Milan (2014) and Lighthouse in the Sea of Time, Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Houston (2013).

Her work has also been featured in many group exhibitions including, Your footsteps are the road, for there is no road – An artistic road amid the Marcel Duchamp Prize artists, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing and Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2019); Climbing Through the Tide, B7L9, Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis (2019); Is This Tomorrow, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2019); MiddleSea, Documentary Film Festival, Palermo (2018); La Terre la plus contraire, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Bâle, Switzerland (2017); Voices, collection display at the Drum Gallery, Tate Modern, London (2017); VideoStudio: Meeting Points, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2016); Crosswords, HANGAR Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon (2016); Underline: Art & Music for the Victoria line, Victoria line, Art on the Underground, London (2016); But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York (2016); The Unfinished Conversation: Encoding/Decoded, Museu Coleçāo Berardo, Lisboa (2016); Prix Marcel Duchamp, FIAC, Paris (2015); The Translator's Voice, MARCO - Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo, Vigo, Spain (2015); The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory revisited by Contemporary African Artists, MMK Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C. (2014 - 2015).

Sedira has won several awards including the Dazibao Prize (2011) and the Prix SAM pour l’art contemporain (2010).

Sedira's work is in numerous public collections including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York; USA; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris; FRAC Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Marseille; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow Museums, Glasgow; Mathaf – Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Musee national de l’histoire et des cultures de l’immigration/ Cite nationale de l’histoire, Paris; mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah; Tate, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Contemporary Wall Paper Collections, London.

Sedira lives in London and works between Algiers, Paris and London.