Mouna Jmel Siala
U N I O N

April 2011
La Boîte Hors les murs IHEC Carthage

Digital hand weaving

Why hands? The hand, that part of the human body, embodies and personifies more than one symbol. As well as its natural physical and mechanical use, it evokes an imaginary meaning covering many aspects of life. “One hand – or one hand alone – cannot clap”, “hand in hand” means mutual aid and union, a man “asks for the hand” of a woman to say he wants to marry her, “lend a hand” means help, having something “at hand” means having it, “holding out the hand” means forgiveness, “kissing the hand” means expressing love and affection, To ‘have an iron hand in a velvet glove’ is to be both firm and diplomatic; to ward off the evil eye or wish good luck, we spread our five fingers or cross two of them. These are situations and expressions that are not exclusive to any one language or civilisation. These are situations and expressions that are not exclusive to any one language or civilisation, which is why the hand, or hands, play such an important role in the lives of human beings and of humanity as a whole.

Working on – or around – the hand, an element of the body, gives me the impression of working on the portrait (the whole body), while remaining in the background. Then it was the fact that the hand is, in my mind, a reflection of identity, perhaps more significant than the portrait, that further motivated me. In this respect, it’s no coincidence that the fingerprint, a component of the hand, is used alongside the photograph in identity documents and personal files. In societies where illiteracy is still rife, the fingerprint is proof of a person’s identity. In short, hands are like “faces without eyes or voice, but which see and speak” (Henri Focillion, in Eloge de la main).
The carpet I’m presenting includes a representation of ‘young hands’ that have been photocopied, digitised and then multiplied in an order of symmetry very close to Islamic art. With these hands intertwined, crossed and united, I weave digitally, i.e. using my computer, a long carpet measuring 9.3 m/1.6 m.
These hands, all identical, are both foreign and familiar. Foreign, because those of others are multiple and repetitive. Familiar, because I see my hands in them, everyone’s hands. They are, at the same time, universal, because, in my eyes, they represent not only union and fraternity between all young people and all Tunisians, but also between the peoples of the world.

It’s easy to see that this 9-metre-long chain of hands is not white, black, yellow or mixed race. What’s more, it has no religion or political allegiance. A paradox of personal identity and a vehicle for love between human beings, this long chain of hands has a specific character in that it is both general and plural.
Through the multiplication of images of identical hands, motifs are born and thus appear, hands mixed, crossed, intertwined, united… in the form of a frieze. An identity emerges.
The emergence of geometric shapes makes the image of the hands disappear from afar, putting them in abyss. In this way, there is a double reading, one from afar and one up close, allowing us to discover the hands that gave birth to these motifs. The work is made “by” the hands of an artist “from” the hands of young people. This gives us the impression of being present at the genesis of the work, looking at the whole and scrutinising the details. The idea was to involve several hands in the work. Firstly the hands of young people expressing hope, friendship and tolerance, then the hands of the artist who creates and continues to create, and also the hands of the craftswomen who ensure the continuity and realisation of the project. Symbolically, then, I would like anyone who looks at this work to share with me the feeling that, in doing so, I am touching on all categories, all societies and all civilisations.

The choice of colours in monochrome and sepia tones evokes a glorious, industrious past (through the handmade aspect of the carpet) and foreshadows a better, more modern future (through digitisation and composition). Between recognition and knowledge, between the visible and the invisible, between identity and identity, the hands are there to reveal a certain truth. “The hand that creates thought links poetic knowledge to the world”. (Etienne Souriau, in Vocabulaire d’esthétique).
The notion of the “handmade”, not in its literal sense, but in its figurative sense, is predominant in this work. The carpet is made with hands (those of the young people) and is made by hands (those of the craftswomen and the artist). Young people, craftswomen and artists, in a way, will work “hand in hand” to create this work of art.
In conclusion, I should point out that the “handmade” nature of my work and its particularly “monumental” size are there to impress, to express and give concrete expression to the importance of THE HAND. So I invite those who are going to look at it to pay close attention to the details. The carpet should be looked at from a distance to grasp its general appearance and up close to scrutinise its details. This is the paradox or trompe l’oeil, which also reveals an image. Seen in this way, the carpet is no longer iconoclastic. And why should it be?

Mouna Jemal Siala, 2011

“Mouna Jemal Siala (1973), qui participe elle aussi au programme hors-les-murs de La Boîte (à la chapelle de l’IHEC, à Carthage), fournit un exemple probant de ces allers-et-retours entre soi et soi, sur le mode ici encore du parcours diffracté, mouvant, hésitant. Jemal Siala multiplie à volonté les représentations inquiétantes d’autrui ou d’elle-même.
(…) Nombre de ses créations, ainsi, accordent encore un crédit sûr à cette perspective qui lui est chère, la solidarité. Seule, je suis peut être perdue. Mais entourée d’amies et d’amis, j’ai plus de chance d’exister, de m’accomplir, de me trouver, en quelque sorte, pour me réaliser. Union, grand tapis de 9 m sur 1,6, prend la forme signifiante d’une chaîne de mains représentées réunies, se tenant les unes les autres. Cette œuvre, réalisée à partir de la numérisation de mains humaines, évoque une fraternité salvatrice et secourable, la mise en commun, l’entraide. « ‘’Une seule main – ou une main seule – ne peut applaudir’’, ‘’la main dans la main’’ signifie qu’il y a entraide et union, l’homme ‘’demande la main’’ de la femme pour dire qu’il veut l’épouser, ‘’donner un coup de main’’ signifie apporter son aide, avoir quelque chose ‘’sous la main’’ c’est en disposer,‘’tendre la main’’’ c’est pardonner, ‘’baiser la main’’ permet d’exprimer son amour et son affection, mais aussi son allégeance et son dévouement(…), dit l’artiste. Travailler sur – ou autour de – la main, élément du corps, me donne l’impression
de travailler sur le portrait (le corps tout entier), tout en restant en deuxième plan. Le fait que la main soit, dans mon esprit, reflet d’identité, peut s’avérer plus significatif que le portrait qui m’a motivée (…). Dans les sociétés où l’illettrisme est encore vivace, l’empreinte digitale atteste de l’identité de l’homme. »

Paul Ardenne

> Biographie