ZINEB SEDIRA (b. 1963, Paris, France) lives in London and works between Algiers (Algeria), Paris and London. Over the fifteen years of her practice, Sedira has enriched the debate around the concepts of modernism, modernity and its manifestations in an inclusive way. She has also raised awareness of artistic expression and the contemporary experience in North Africa. She found inspiration initially in researching her identity as a woman with a singular personal geography. From these autobiographical concerns she gradually shifted her interest to more universal ideas of mobility, memory and transmission.
Sedira is the founder of aria (artist residency in algiers), a residency program to support the development of the contemporary art scene in Algeria through international cross-cultural exchanges and collaborations.
Sedira undertook an artist’s residency with Iniva and in 2003, she contributed to the publication, Veil: Veiling, Representation and Contemporary Art, published by Iniva and Modern Art Oxford, on the occasion of ‘Veil‘ – an Iniva touring exhibition initiated, developed and curated by Sedira in collaboration with other artists. In 2009, Iniva presented Sedira’s solo exhibition, ‘Currents of Time‘ which explored displacement and mobility and included an exhibition tour led by the artist. This work formed the basis for two panel discussions at Iniva: one around art and ecology, the other on migration in artists’ work. Her artwork was also the springboard for an artists’ conversation about the medium of sound. Iniva went on to show film screenings of Sedira’s film projects, Saphir (2006) and MiddleSea (2008), which – like her Currents of Time – drew on the sea as a symbol.
Zineb Sedira’s work was shown in several solo exhibitions at the Bildmuseet (Umeå, Sweden, 2021), the SMoCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art) (US, 2021), the Jeu de Paume (Paris, 2019), the IVAM‑Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (Spain, 2019), the Beirut Art Center (Lebanon, 2018), the Sharjah Art Foundation Art Spaces (UAE, 2018), the Art On the Underground (London, 2016), the Blaffer Art Museum (Houston, 2013), the Charles H. Scott Gallery (Vancouver, 2013), the Prefix‑Institute of Contemporary Art (Toronto, 2010), the [mac] musée d’Art contemporain of Marseille (2010), the Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2010), the Kunsthalle Nikolaj (Copenhagen, 2010), the BildMuseets (Sweden, 2010), the Pori Art Museum (Finland, 2009), the New Art Exchange (Nottingham, 2009), the Wapping Project (London, 2008) and at the Photographer’s Gallery (London, 2006). Her work will soon be exhibited at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, 2022), at Dallas Contemporary (US, 2022) and the De La Warr Pavilion (Bexhill on Sea, UK, 2022-2023).
Zineb Sedira represented France at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.