Inès Benaissa
Acrylic painting, mixed media, collage — the body, memory, Amazigh heritage
Information
Based in
Dubai, UAE
Status
Avanvue Selection
Medium
Acrylic painting · Mixed media
Overview
Inès Benaissa has been painting for over twenty years. Her work has taken shape in the space between two cultures, French and Algerian, and in the tension between what we inherit and what we choose. The human figure is at the center of it all: dismembered faces, fragmented bodies, presences that are both recognizable and strange. Her lines are thick, black outlines are almost always present, and the colors are bold.
Her practice is organized into distinct series, each addressing a specific question. In her figurative paintings, she explores the relationships between bodies, desire, tension, solitude, and coexistence. In the *Roots* series, she draws on Amazigh heritage: Tifinagh symbols, collaged antique papers, and earth tones. Collage plays a central role in this work. It is integrated into the painting through traces of reality, documents, and fragments that once existed elsewhere.
What unites all these series is a minimalist approach to composition, a directness of gesture, and a deliberate choice not to explain what should remain open to interpretation. The black line does not define; it questions.
My view
Presented by Avanvue, May 2026.
In Inès’s work, symbolic forms from afar, the Tifinagh script, and Berber heritage are brought to life through colors that are decidedly vibrant—even joyful. Origins are not a burden; they are a source of inspiration.
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