Spanning both of our galleries, ‘Can’t You See the Sea Changing?’ will be Zineb Sedira’s first solo exhibition in a UK public gallery for over 12 years and follows her acclaimed exhibition, ‘Dreams Have No Titles’ for the French Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, which received the Special Mention of the Jury.
Conceived in collaboration with Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), where the exhibition will be presented in spring 2023, Can’t You See the Sea Changing? focuses on Sedira’s ongoing investigation into the conditions of transnational trade, identity and migrant consciousness in a post-colonial context, within which the sea is a recurring motif. Beginning from the artist’s fascination with the sea as an enigmatic yet geopolitically charged space, as well as the coastal contexts of the De La Warr Pavilion and DCA, the exhibition spans a period from 2008 to the present day and brings together photography, installation, film and archival material.
Sedira draws upon her personal history and close connection to Algeria, France and the UK to explore ideas of identity, gender, environment and collective memory. Throughout her career, she has become a leading voice in addressing the question of what it means to live between different cultures, often bringing together autobiographical narration, fiction and documentary genres. Through these varying approaches to storytelling, Sedira interrogates what she refers to as ‘spaces where mobility expires’, or the (in)ability of individuals to depart, return, escape, or exist in transit between certain lands and identities. Whilst her narratives are embedded with histories of migration and exile, particularly in relation to her home countries of Algeria and France, Sedira considers what it means to be transported through visionary acts of imagination, acts that carry us to different places through the merging of past and present time frames.
Read an interview with the artist in The Art Newspaper here
Plan your visit here.
Zineb Sedira (born 1963, Paris), lives in London and works between Algeria, Paris, and London. Recent solo exhibitions include Bildmuseet (Umeå, Sweden, 2021), SMoCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art) (US, 2021), Jeu de Paume (Paris, 2019), IVAM‑Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (Spain, 2019), Beirut Art Center (Lebanon, 2018), Sharjah Art Foundation Art Spaces (UAE, 2018), Art On the Underground (London, 2016). She has previously shown in institutions such as Tate Britain, Centre Pompidou, Mori Museum, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art of Algiers, Brooklyn Museum, Mathaf – Arab Museum of Modern Art, Gwangju Museum of Art, and MMK Museum für Mordern Kunst, as well as in biennials and triennials, including the Venice Biennale (2001 and 2011), the Triennial for photography and video at the Institute of Contemporary Photography in New York (2003), the Sharjah Biennale (2003 and 2007), the Folkestone Triennial (2011), New Orleans’ international art exhibition (2017) and the Liverpool Biennial (2021). Sedira is representing France at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2022) and was awarded a special mention for her exhibition titled Dreams Have No Titles.
Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an internationally renowned centre for contemporary art and registered charity that enables audiences, artists and participants to see, experience and create. With two beautiful large-scale gallery spaces, two thriving cinema screens, a busy print studio, an award-winning learning programme, and a packed programme of events, workshops, classes and activities aimed at all ages and abilities, DCA is a vibrant cultural hub open to all, located in the heart of the city and is supported by Creative Scotland and Dundee City Council.
Exhibition Resources
Explore the exhibition supported by our exhibition resources available to download from this page.
The exhibition is a collaboration between De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, and Dundee Contemporary Arts.
Zineb Sedira Exhibition Circle:
Kindly supported by:
Touring Partner:
De La Warr Pavilion support by:
