Interview by the 2026 Mediterranean Season at the Rencontres d’Arles.
Exhibition until 4 October at Saint-Blaise Church, Arles.
“In 1978, Assia Djebar made La Nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua, a poetic film about the memories of Algerian women, their long-silenced voices, and what official history has left in the shadows. Nearly fifty years later, Katia Kameli picks up the thread.
She returns to the locations. She tracks down Sawsan Noweir, the lead actress in Djebar’s film, and interviews her. She follows in the footsteps of these women through the caves of Tipaza, the potters of Mount Chenoua, and the skills passed down from generation to generation. She then composes a new chapter: a narrative told in the feminine plural, written in images rather than words.
Katia Kameli’s work does not comment on Djebar’s film: it extends it, revitalises it and opens it up to the present. It is a way of affirming that certain narratives do not come to an end; they continue to circulate, to transform, and to find new voices.”
Curated by Clément Dirié
The exhibition forms part of the programme for the 2026 Mediterranean Season at the Rencontres d’Arles.
