{"id":15591,"date":"2019-10-08T16:37:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T14:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.laboite-kilanigroupe.com\/?page_id=15591"},"modified":"2025-09-29T15:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:20:11","slug":"u-n-i-o-n-mouna-jmel-siala","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.laboite-kilanigroupe.com\/en\/u-n-i-o-n-mouna-jmel-siala\/","title":{"rendered":"U N I O N \u2013 Mouna Jmel Siala"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” el_class=”colLeftPub” width=”1\/2″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text el_class=”descriptionPub pub-1 textExpoInterne”]\n

Mouna Jmel Siala<\/span><\/a>
\nU N I O N<\/span><\/h1>\n

April 2011
\nLa Bo\u00eete Hors les murs IHEC Carthage<\/p>\n

Digital hand weaving<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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).
\nThe 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.
\nThese 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.<\/p>\n

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.
\nThrough 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.
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n

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’esth\u00e9tique).
\nThe 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.
\nIn 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?<\/p>\n

Mouna Jemal Siala, 2011<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Mouna Jemal Siala (1973), qui participe elle aussi au programme hors-les-murs de La Bo\u00eete (\u00e0 la chapelle de l\u2019IHEC, \u00e0 Carthage), fournit un exemple probant de ces allers-et-retours entre soi et soi, sur le mode ici encore du parcours diffract\u00e9, mouvant, h\u00e9sitant. Jemal Siala multiplie \u00e0 volont\u00e9 les repr\u00e9sentations inqui\u00e9tantes d\u2019autrui ou d\u2019elle-m\u00eame.
\n(…) Nombre de ses cr\u00e9ations, ainsi, accordent encore un cr\u00e9dit s\u00fbr \u00e0 cette perspective qui lui est ch\u00e8re, la solidarit\u00e9. Seule, je suis peut \u00eatre perdue. Mais entour\u00e9e d\u2019amies et d\u2019amis, j\u2019ai plus de chance d\u2019exister, de m\u2019accomplir, de me trouver, en quelque sorte, pour me r\u00e9aliser. Union, grand tapis de 9 m sur 1,6, prend la forme signifiante d\u2019une cha\u00eene de mains repr\u00e9sent\u00e9es r\u00e9unies, se tenant les unes les autres. Cette \u0153uvre, r\u00e9alis\u00e9e \u00e0 partir de la num\u00e9risation de mains humaines, \u00e9voque une fraternit\u00e9 salvatrice et secourable, la mise en commun, l\u2019entraide. \u00ab \u2018\u2019Une seule main \u2013 ou une main seule – ne peut applaudir\u2019\u2019, \u2018\u2019la main dans la main\u2019\u2019 signifie qu\u2019il y a entraide et union, l\u2019homme \u2018\u2019demande la main\u2019\u2019 de la femme pour dire qu\u2019il veut l\u2019\u00e9pouser, \u2018\u2019donner un coup de main\u2019\u2019 signifie apporter son aide, avoir quelque chose \u2018\u2019sous la main\u2019\u2019 c\u2019est en disposer,\u2018\u2019tendre la main\u2019\u2019\u2019 c\u2019est pardonner, \u2018\u2019baiser la main\u2019\u2019 permet d\u2019exprimer son amour et son affection, mais aussi son all\u00e9geance et son d\u00e9vouement(\u2026), dit l\u2019artiste. Travailler sur \u2013 ou autour de – la main, \u00e9l\u00e9ment du corps, me donne l\u2019impression
\nde travailler sur le portrait (le corps tout entier), tout en restant en deuxi\u00e8me plan. Le fait que la main soit, dans mon esprit, reflet d\u2019identit\u00e9, peut s\u2019av\u00e9rer plus significatif que le portrait qui m\u2019a motiv\u00e9e (\u2026). Dans les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s o\u00f9 l\u2019illettrisme est encore vivace, l\u2019empreinte digitale atteste de l\u2019identit\u00e9 de l\u2019homme. \u00bb<\/p>\n

Paul Ardenne<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

> Biographie<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” width=”1\/2″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_gallery type=”nectarslider_style” images=”6762,6761,6760,6759″ flexible_slider_height=”true” bullet_navigation_style=”see_through” onclick=”link_no”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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