F e r y e l

The divas Feryel paints are voluptuous and silent. They sit, looking at the viewer, busy with the detail of their world, about to tuck into a slice of chocolate cake with a cherry on top, or sip an espresso or idly play with a string of pearls.

Feryel paints the female body with a rare freedom. The poses and calm expressions of the seated women complement the curving arms, thighs and round faces that take prominence with bright vibrant colours while the backgrounds are deliberately low-key and indistinct. The shapes and colours give a hint of Feryel’s architectural studies at the Ecole d’Architecture in Paris. Feryel was born in Tunis in 1965, holding her first solo exhibition in 1986 in Sidi Bou Saïd, Tunisia, with later exhibitions in Paris, Ajaccio, Monastir and Tunis, and in May and June this year in Gallery M, Paris.

Since the mid-1980s, she has participated in nearly 30 group exhibitions, regularly in Tunis, Sidi Bou Saïd, La Marsa and Hammamet, as well as in a number of Arab and European cities further afield – in Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut and Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Bonn and Hanover.

Front cover: Desire, acrylic on canvas, 181 x 76 cm Above: Cultured pearl, Oil on Canvas, 120 x 120 cm Right: On the Terrace, acrylic and oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm