Yumna Al-Arashi interview by Taous Dahmani
Huis Marseille is pleased to announce an in-depth public conversation between the Zürich-based artist Yumna Al-Arashi and the art historian Taous Dahmani, focusing on the themes in Al-Arashi’s first institutional solo exhibition Body as Resistance. Through a wide variety of media – photography, book and sculpture – the artist addresses the stereotyping of women, the way the Arab world is depicted, the legacy of colonialism in our thoughts, and matriarchal traditions. Dr Taous Dahmani is a French, British, and Algerian art historian specialising in photography.
Body as Resistance
From 14 February until 21 June 2026 Huis Marseille is showing the first solo museum exhibition of work by the Yemeni-Egyptian-American artist Yumna Al-Arashi (1988, Washington D.C.). In Body as Resistance Al-Arashi challenges dominant Western narratives and reveals the complexity of people in front of and behind the camera. Her work switches effortlessly between registers – sometimes playful and provocative, sometimes poetic, defiant or enraged – and more often than not, all of these things at once.
Taous Dahmani
Dr Taous Dahmani is a London-based French, British and Algerian art historian, writer and curator specialising in photography. Her academic research focuses on the photographic representation of struggles and the struggle for photographic representation. Her projects mainly involve the links between photography and politics – such as the visual culture of protests, migratory narratives, and intersectional feminist discourses. She has been published in a variety of scientific journals and regularly gives papers at academic conferences. She also writes for art magazines and is frequently invited to hold conversations with photographers. Since September 2025 she is curator at the Photographers’ Gallery in London.
Conversations
How do photographers develop a new visual language that is relevant to the artistic nature of photography, but which also reflects on its time? This question is central to the work of Huis Marseille, and informs its exhibition programme and collection. To support the exhibitions the museum organizes regular conversations. Often moderated by internationally acclaimed curators or writers, these conversations provide context, but they also allow the artist to engage with an audience and vice versa. Previous editions have included the curator Martha Kirszenbaum in conversation with the artist Michella Bredahl, the curator and writer Lou Stoppard with the artist Viviane Sassen, and the curator Sonia Voss with a reading about the work of Kusukazu Uraguchi (Shima no Ama).
Supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Programme 18:30 – Doors open19:00 – Conversation begins
21:00 – Museum closes
Audience
The event will be held in English.
Max. participantsLimited capacity, please order a ticket via the link
CostAdmission fee excl. museum entrance: €7.50
