SITE
TAGHORI
Viusal Essay
10 min.
Composition: Nour El Ain Najar
Poem: Sheikh Naji Bin Ali Al Hadri
Voice: Jamel Ben Maamer
Kvadruk Font: Svetha Gruda aka Nikola Milenović
In architectural plans of Djerbian pottery workshops, squares, and circles stand for the working space (square) and for the oven (circle). In the Kvadruk font, various combinations of squares and circles represent letters. In her visual essay, Nour experiments with a poem set in Kvadruk, developing shifting shapes and constellations, composing a visual stream that contains information, but can’t be read.
Nour Najar is home in Guellala. The identity of her hometown is closely intertwined with a long-standing history of pottery, rooted in the Amazigh cultures. As an architect, she studied the architecture of her home island, facing difficulties finding reliable sources about the heritage of the pottery. The artwork reflects on the lack of information and knowledge on the history of the Guellala earthware. The artwork is titled “Taghori,” meaning “clay” in Chelha, one of the Amazigh languages in Tunisia. In Djerba, “Taghori Dassah” translates to “strong clay”; it is a key metaphor for the Djerbian identity.
Nour selected the following passage of a poem by Sheikh Naji Bin Ali Al Hadri: “Even if it merged again with the clay and united with the water, sinking into it, it will rise as light.” Set in the Kvadruk, it acts as the raw material of the animation — singled out into the elements or woven into structures or words, straight or distorted, still or moving. She thematizes the dynamic relationship of language, script, and architecture, of landscape and building materials. She develops a graphical stream of information that can not be decoded.
The piece includes a poem written and spoken by Jamel Ben Maamer, performed in Tunisian Arabic and Chelha Amazigh, linking oral tradition to visual encoding.
MUSEUM GUELLALA
BACKGROUND
Nour El Ain Najar is an emerging artist. Her artistic work spans from architecture studies to digital animations. Her artistic approach reflects a blend of tradition, architecture, and modern media art, contributing to the cultural scene in Tunisia’s south.
EXHIBITIONS
2024 Houmt Souk (tn), SEE DJERBA
STUDIES
2025 Sidi Bou Said (tn), ENAU: BA
BIO
Lives in Djerba.
LINK
FEATURED IMAGE
Nour El Ain Najar. SEE DJERBA Houmt Souk 2025. Photo: Wassim Ben Aissa.