Aziza Nassih

As a premise, I search for historical artifacts that mark territories and population movements. These markers, whether architectural, linguistic (proverbs, mottos, alphabets) or related to myth, condition our rapport with others. It is only through their unravelling and reinterpretation by individual memories that they reveal their potential for transformation. These are fundamental to the issues that interest me: questions around marginalized populations, the resilience of indigenous peoples and [re]readings of history.

I use artifacts to deconstruct, disfigure and reveal their origins. The monument-sepulchre, the public domain, the heraldic and the proverb would be the playground where it is possible to delineate history and its hidden branches, to foresee its exposed roots. My desire is to [un]tangle these ties to find traces of resilience, resistance and creativity.

Aziza Nassih (b, Casablanca, Morocco) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Her practice is currently focused on the revitalization of indigenous languages, collective memories, cultural erasure and decolonization. Through foundry work, installation and textile works that invite connection and introspection, she investigates the traces and artifacts marking colonial expansions, dormant languages and the displacement of populations. She has participated in various collective exhibitions, notably at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2022), Musée d’art actuel - Département des Invisibles (2021) and Galerie UQAM (2019).

Instagram @dessiza

Work by Aziza Nassih

Work by Aziza Nassih. Photo credit: Jobena Petonoquot, 2023