SEE DJERBA Project
Amaltou khicha
2026
Textile
160 x 100cm
Elkhicha amlettou
2026
Textile
160 x 100cm
Layla Nabi composed her textile works of hand-sewn pieces of Khicha, a traditional Tunisian cleaning cloth made from recycled textile fibres. Widely used in domestic spaces and closely associated with women’s everyday labour, Khicha becomes both the material and the conceptual foundation of the works, bridging domestic, urban, and political narratives.
The first piece reinterprets the paving pattern of Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis, transforming a standardized element of the city’s public space into a tactile textile composition. By translating the avenue’s geometric pavement into fabric, the work shifts attention to a surface that silently witnesses everyday life, political demonstrations, and the presence of state power.
The second work draws inspiration from the floor tiles of a small shop in Halfaouine Market. Rather than reproducing the original design, the pattern is reconfigured into a new composition that balances familiarity with abstraction, inviting viewers to reconsider the visual language of ordinary spaces.
Through the use of Khicha, Layla Nabi connects domestic labour with broader material and political histories.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Layla Nabi lives and works in Berlin, where her work draws on the visual cultures of urban landscapes and their inhabitants. She trained at HfBK Dresden and the Royal Institute of Art Stockholm, and has held a lectureship for sculpture at Städelschule Frankfurt since 2023. Through processes of observation and material translation, Nabi brings together objects, materials, and places that do not ordinarily appear connected. These new constellations open up reflections on the social, political, and material structures embedded in everyday life.
RERFRENCE IMAGES
INTERVIEW
“The Fragility of What Was Made to Endure”
EXHIBITIONS
2025
“S“, soloshow, Laden, Berlin
“Stand behind the yellow line“, with Robert Czolkoß, Remise, Chemnitz
“Anti-impact“, soloshow, Boddenberg, Köln
“Engaged in disengagement“, soloshow, G10, Darmstadt
“M24“, groupshow, Oktogon Dresden
“DUFTPYRAMIDE“, groupshow, Parfümerie, Frankfurt a.M.
“Steinbörse“, performance, Boddenberg, Köln
“Motel Christas Drive“, groupshow, Pension Mätschke, Dresden
“Umdifferenziert“, soloshow, Uferhallen, Berlin
“Immaculate“, with Thilo Jenssen, MARS Frankfurt, Frankfurt a.M.
WEBLINKS
https://laylanabi.com/
instagram.com
BIO
Based in Berlin (de)
1994 Born in Berlin (de)