Nicène Kossentini

Nicene Kossentini is a Tunisian photographer and filmmaker who mines connections between the past and the present, the personal and the political, and peace and hostility in her work. By engaging with the history of culture and conflict in her native Tunisia, she makes works that reference hopelessness and defiance—universal themes that transcend time and place. Recently, events surrounding the Arab Spring and the Jasmine Revolution have influenced her. In her “They abused her by saying…” (2012) series, the same faceless woman is repeated over multiple images, addressing issues of oppression. In much of her work, there are also references to rebellion and hope. Boujmal (2012) fuses images of a Tunisian lake with found portraits of Kossentini, her mother, and grandmother. In the face of advancing water, all three women remain courageous.