Houda Terjuman (b. 1970, Tangier, Morocco) is a Syrian/Swiss/Moroccan visual artist who lives and works in Barcelona. Her artistic practice encompasses paintings and floating sculptures that recall the language of Surrealism and takes us on a journey through the Middle East, Europe and Africa. A reflection of her own multicultural experience of the world, Terjuman’s work explores identity, displacement and a search for stability. The longing for a home, symbolised by the recurring motif of the tree often juxtaposed with homely pieces of furniture or floating uprooted trees in her sculptures, becomes part of a stressful and painful process that reflects the connectivity and heterogeneity of our de-territorialised world.
Solo exhibitions include Glide Through Evanescent Lands, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany, (2023); When Hope Smells Like Petrichor, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2022); Galerie GVCC, Casablanca, Morocco (2021); Untold Stories, Galerie Siniya in Marrakech, Morocco (2019); Because these wings can no longer fly, an artistic project with Arts Cabinet in London, UK (2019); Un Oeil Ouvert sur le Monde Arabe, a collaboration with FFCreative Paris, for “La Nuit Blanche” at L’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France (2018); Casa Arabe, Madrid, Spain (2018); Collaboration with Alex Hammersly and Hollandridge Group, London, UK ( 2018); Taghazout Bay, Agadir, Morocco (2016).
Group exhibitions include Contemporary dilemmas: Eternal displacements, RoFa Projects, Maryland, USA (2023); Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai, UAE, (2023); Don‘t Ask Me Where I‘m From, Orlando Museum of Art in partnership with Fondazione Imago Mundi and the Aga Khan Museum , Orlando, USA (2022); The 369 Art Gallery, Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy (2022); Art Dubai, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2022); Facing the Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); Galerie Géraldine Zberro, Paris, France (2021); Thinking Out Loud, Pulpo Gallery Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany (2021); "Devil's in the Detail", Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2021); Musee de la Kasbah, Tangier, Morocco (2021); Rofa Projects, Potomac, Maryland, USA (2020); Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Aga Kahn Museum, Toronto, Canada (2020); Galleria delle Prigioni, Luciano Benetton Foundation, Treviso, Italy (2019); Hybrid Migrant, a touring exhibition with the Agha Kahn Museum and Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton’s Global Art project, Treviso, Toronto, Vancouver, Houston, Dallas, Paris, London, Lisbon and Dubai (2019-2020); Wondrous Worlds, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany(2019), Oeuvres et Recherches, GVCC, Casablanca, Morocco (2018), Galerie 21, Geneva, Switzerland (2018);Black Sphinx II, Primae Noctis Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland (2018), La Sfinge Nera II, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy (2018), Mercedes Roldan, Madrid, Spain (2017), Merchant of Dreams, Viborg Kunsthal, Denmark (2016); Musée Mohammed VI d’Art Contemporain, Rabat, Morocco (2015); Femmes et Religion, Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc (2015).
Highlights and Awards
Houda Terjuman’s work can be found in various international private and public collections such as the SUSU Collection, Beijing, China and the Bunker Artspace, Florida, USA.