Kenza Ben Thami

Visual artist and photographer · Montréal

Kenza Ben Thami

A practice rooted in memory, identities and cultural hybridity.

View the works
Installation view of Tout est relatif seen through a gallery archway: thirteen beige panels of different sizes form a large cross on the far wall. Tout est relatif, 2026

“These works demand a certain kind of looking. A slowing down. Attention. They do not reveal everything at once.”

Kenza Ben Thami, on Ruptures et passages

Works

13
Installation view of Tout est relatif seen through a gallery archway: thirteen beige panels of different sizes form a large cross on the far wall. Tout est relatif 2026 · Installation — acrylic on textile Installation view: twelve paintings of various sizes, in Tarz fabric and raw canvas, hung in two symmetrical rows on a white wall. Ruptures et passages 2025 · Series of twelve paintings Installation view: a large triptych on burlap, with Moroccan door motifs in green and pale yellow, fragmented and displaced over a khaki ground. (Dé)construire 2025 · Acrylic on burlap
Painting on burlap: a corner of Moroccan mosaic, with blue, green and ochre zellige tiles beneath a brick-red wall. Point(s) de vue 2025 · Acrylic on burlap Two orange leather belghas hung on the wall: on the left, the opened slipper reveals its interior and seams; on the right, the intact slipper. À découvert 2025 · Installation — objects
Diptych: on the left, a blue and gold brocade with floral motifs; on the right, the same motif rendered in brown on raw unbleached canvas. Les éclats des invisibles 2025 · Diptych The khrib-covered chair, set on a carpet of red leaves beneath a maple tree in autumn. Ma chaise 2025 · Infiltration project Wooden panel cut in the shape of a giant postage stamp: transferred colonial postcards surround a painted tbourida rider on a rearing black horse. Fantasias – Fierté nationale 2025 · Transfers and acrylic on wood
Painting: orange dunes under a pale sky; on the right, a figure draped in a blue veil whose face is left as bare canvas. Sans titre Acrylic on canvas A three-panel wooden door structure: red shutters open onto transferred Palestinian newspapers, painted with a dove, olive branches, a dome, a watermelon, figs and the calligraphy “Gaza.” Mémoire persistante – résistance de l’oubli 2024 · Transfers and acrylic on carved wood Installation view: a surfboard covered with Amazigh rug motifs, beside four framed panels showing a staircase and a blue door against the sky. Souvenir 2024 · Transfer and acrylic on wood
Triptych: hands holding a fossil stone — first as a photograph, then as flat digital shapes, then as a relief print. Résurgence 2024 · Triptych — photography and printmaking Geometric painting: large black, burgundy, ochre and blue triangles, misty grey areas and coloured oval imprints. Résonance 2024 · Acrylic, ink and watercolour

Photography

5
An agave in the foreground of a desert landscape, beneath an arid hill. Témoins des passages 2025 · Photographic diptych Two artisans at work under a sheet-metal shelter, in an arid landscape. Transmission(s) Photographic diptych The ruins of an earthen tower among palm trees; in the foreground, a rug and a chair. Demeure(s) Photographic diptych An ochre staircase leads to a blue door by the ocean. Bleu(s) Photographic series A staircase painted blue and white climbs between rocks toward the sun; a man ascends it. Marche(s) Photographic diptych