Amira Lamti – SEE DJERBA

SITE

SALTY DREAMS
video essay
4:42 min

Amira Lamti. SEE DJERBA 2025 Houmt Souk. Photo: Wassim Ben Aissa

SALTY DREAMS is recognisable from the distance as soon as the museum ground is entered, as it plays on the large wall at the entrance. A gentle sound accompanies visitors on their way to the artwork. An olive tree appearing in the image section subtly connects the projection with the surroundings. The work also blends into the overall picture of the Traditional Heritage Museum Djerba with its mostly sand-coloured images.

The video essay shows a series of calm image sequences. These include the constant movement of sea spray, desert-like landscapes and a flock of sheep grazing by the sea. The scenes are filmed in static shots and, as a result, dynamics are created purely through the gentle movements of the motifs. These image sequences are accompanied by different, slightly echoing off-screen voices. Amira Lamti collected visual material and sound on her journey from Sousse and Hergla to Chott el Djerid. Based on her own relationship to seascapes and saline landscapes, she intensively investigated questions of origin and collective heritage on her journey. She had many conversations with people of different Tunisian origins about these topics.

The voices taken from various conversations create an atmosphere of deep calm and serenity. They speak without rushing and take their time. In combination with the visual material, they create a place of pause in the entrance area of the museum, characterised by subtle, almost confidential intimacy.

SALTY DREAMS moves between memory, landscape and collective identity. Voices and images interweave to create a sensitive narrative in which the sea, water and salt act as supporting motifs. These elements become witnesses and bearers of cultural heritage that manifests itself in people’s stories. The thematic exploration is further emphasised in the context of the Traditional Heritage Museum Djerba.

Amira Lamti. SEE DJERBA Houmt Souk 2025. videostill.

BACKGROUND

Amira Lamti’s artistic practice spans photography, videography, collage, installation, and performance. Her work is dedicated to capturing moments, gestures, and rituals embedded in daily life and sociocultural practices. Her approach is guided by awareness, not only representing but also interrogating the layered meanings and symbolic inheritances within her surroundings and heritage.

Central to her practice is a continuous review of the role of humans as part of their natural environments, exploring how physical, spiritual, and social territories intersect and shape identity and memory. Her art engages particularly with rituals, identity, and memory, referencing female spiritual traditions of eastern Tunisia. This matrix of practice rooted in gestures, beliefs, songs, clothing, and prayers is situated on the borderline between the sacred and the profane, absorbing influences from Punic, Amazigh, Muslim, and Jewish traditions.

By juxtaposing photography, performance, textile prints, family archives, and artefacts, Lamti explores the multiple layers of meaning embedded in the rituals and gestures of everyday life, contributing to the reshaping of narratives of identity and socio-cultural transformation.