"One day he asked me: Who are you? Are you the darkness of the night, or the light that touches my face in the morning? I said: I am your freedom. Can you feel me, dear fighter? Can you feel me, free bird?"

During the Venice Biennale 2026, CityX Foundation presents a preview event dedicated to the forthcoming catalogue.

The presentation will center on Aysha E Arar’s work and artistic practice, featuring a conversation with the artist and her representatives from Dvir Gallery and Eloi Boucher (Sans titre).

The program will include a presentation of selected works and an overview of her practice, with Mousse Publishing participating in the introduction. Aysha E Arar will also join the program online.

The Aysha E Arar monograph extends CityX Foundation’s commitment to Fragile Art, supporting artistic practices shaped by transformation, vulnerability, and evolving cultural realities.

CityX Foundation supports the publication as a recognized Publishing Partner.

Produced in collaboration with Mousse Publishing (Milan), the book will be internationally distributed via D.A.P. (New York), Les Presses du Réel (Dijon), Idea Books (Amsterdam), Antenne Books (London), and additional global networks.

Print run: 800 copies. Copies distributed internationally.

Their texts offer philosophical and curatorial readings of Arar’s universe — examining themes of metamorphosis, hybrid identities, spirituality, resistance, and survival.

A conversation with Chaya Hazan (Dvir Gallery) reflects on artistic responsibility and creation in times of war.

The publication includes newly commissioned essays by:

This monograph documents and contextualizes the evolution of Aysha E Arar’s practice from 2023 to 2026. Rather than functioning as a retrospective, the publication serves as a tool for interpretation and transmission — affirming the political, aesthetic, and emotional urgency of her work within the international contemporary art scene.

The catalog is bilingual (French/English), with the artist’s poems presented trilingually in Arabic, French, and English. The design, developed by Mousse Publishing, allows for fluid movement between image, text, and handwriting — echoing the organic freedom of Arar’s visual language.

Rather than functioning as a retrospective, the publication serves a framework for interpretation — situating Arar’s work within contemporary debates on identity, hybridity, spirituality, and cultural resistance.

The trilingual volume (English, Arabic, and French) critically and poetically documents her artistic evolution across her entire practice, encompassing paintings and drawings, as well as her video and performance works.

Bekriah Mawasi (writer)

Anissa Touati (curator)

Mohamed Amer Meziane (philosopher)