24 Hour Museum - official guide to UK museums, galleries, exhibitions and heritage
Gateway to Over 3,000 UK museums, galleries and heritage attractions
Skip to navigation
Exhibitions
Caught Between Cultures - Zineb Sedira At City Gallery Leicester
13/09/2004
Jinns (2001 - 2004) by Zineb Sedira. Image courtesy of the artist.
Telling Stories with Differences, on show at The City Gallery in Leicester until October 29, showcases the work of internationally acclaimed artist, Zineb Sedira.
Born in France of Algerian parents and began making art in the mid 1990s whilst in London after completing studies at St Martins, the Slade and the Royal College of Art.
Now resident in London, Sedira is a rising star on the international arts circuit, exhibiting her work in Europe, the Middle East, as well as the USA.
Audiences in many different parts of the world have been touched by her photographic, video and film works, which explore her relationship with her Muslim heritage and her Algerian family history.
Part of the second generation of immigrants, Sedira’s family lived through the turbulent history of the occupation of Algeria by France and their experiences are central to her artistic output.
Mother, Daughter and I (2003) by Zineb Sedira. Image courtesy of the artist.
Using autobiographical subject matter, the artist uses her work to investigate the difficult experience of living between cultures and traditions.
Stylistically she draws on both documentary filmmaking and French cinema and Telling Stories with Differences summarises her recent career with major film, video and photographic works
The documentary style of her video and film works draws on both oral history and traditional practices of story telling.
Within North African cultures, women have a central role in passing on cultural history and family stories along the matrilineal chain as a means of preserving cultural identity from one generation to the next.
Sedira’s acclaimed video work Mother Tongue looks at three generations of the artist’s family, each communicating in their own 'mother tongue', but unable to communicate directly through words.
Le Maison de ma Mére by Zineb Sedira - commissioned by The City Gallery. © Zineb Sedira. Courtesy The Agency, London
Also featured in the show is impressionist photographic work La maison de ma mere (2002). Commissioned by The City Gallery, the piece is both intimate and tender and reveals the artist’s need to understand and reclaim her Mother’s world as home.
Other new works include a three-screen DVD projection entitled Mother, Father and I, a key work exploring the dynamics of her parental inheritance.
The work adopts a documentary style referencing the Algerian war and concerns the transformation of Sedira’s parents from freedom fighters against French colonial rule to economic migrants in France.
Organised by Cornerhouse in Manchester, the exhibition is supported by a National Touring Programme Award from the Arts Council of England.
The City Gallery, Leicester
90 Granby Street, Leicester, LE1 1DJ, Leicestershire, England
Open: Tue-Fri 1100-1800
Sat 1000-1700
Closed: Closed Sun, Mon & Bank Holidays
Related Articles
MGM 2008 - City Art Gallery Leicester Sends Children Into Space
Things We Lost In The Fire At Leicester City Art Gallery
Leicester City Gallery Hosts Interactive Installation Autumn
Exploring Asymmetry: Sheila Dixon At Leicester City Gallery
Open 17 Showcases Some Unusual Mixed Media At Leicester City Gallery
Last Chance To See Stranger Exhibition At Leicester City Gallery
Citizens - Artists Go Beyond Borders At The City Gallery
E-news registration
E-mail story to a friend
Tell us what you think
Thomas Hirschhorn - The Incommensurable At Brighton's Fabrica
Remembering The Great War At Imperial War Museum London
Allen Ruppersberg's First Solo Show At Camden Arts Centre
New Light On Andy Warhol''s Works At Hayward Gallery, London
Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque At The Royal Academy
Brighton Photo Biennial 2008 Questions War Photography
Hunterian Museum Exhibits Drawings Of Rare Disease
Tracey Chevalier Curates A Thousand Words At York Gallery
Both Sides Of The Iron Curtain - Cold War Modern At The V&A
Four Hopefuls Unveiled For The Turner Prize 2008 At Tate Britain
MADE UP At Liverpool Biennial Of Contemporary Arts 2008
National Maritime Museum Displays Francis Frith Postcard Images
Iconic Rothko Seagram Murals Reunited At Tate Modern
Emerging Polish Artists At Town Hall Galleries Ipswich
Catherine Yass High Wire At The German Gymnasium London
Stephen Turner Fuses People and Plants At Fermynwoods
Sir Benjamin Stone's Photos Shown Outdoors In Birmingham
The Deadpan World Of David Shrigley At BALTIC
Search this site
Home Page
News Page
Exhibition Page
What's On
Trails Page
Website of the Week
Letters Page
Welsh Home
Graphical Version
Copyright © 24 Hour Museum
Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared. Welsh language pages developed with CYMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.