Ghizlane Sahli

Ghizlane Sahli was born in 1973 in Meknes, Morocco. After studying architecture at the École d’Architecture de Paris-Tolbiac and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, she returned to Morocco and settled in Marrakech where she started running an embroidery workshop with local artisan women.

In less than a decade she became renowned for her award-winning tissue creations. It was in 2012, following the production of a dress made from waste (rubbish bags, jerry cans, plastic bottles, etc.) for a feature in a local magazine that she decided to close her embroidery workshop and concentrate on the making of pure artistic creations.

Along with her sister and two photographers, she formed the Zbel Manifesto Collective, working in the transformation and sublimation of waste products. The collective appeared at the Marrakesh Biennale in 2014, presenting an installation, Pimp My Garbage. They were thereafter invited to participate in the inaugural exposition of the Mohamed VI Museum in Rabat.

Today Sahli continues her work with the help of local artisan women. Through her acts of recycling, re-energizing and re-use, she draws attention to critical environmental issues while also evoking beauty that potentially lies underneath and embedded within the seemingly everyday.

Exhibitions:

​2019 Africa now, MO.CA, Brescia

2019 BISO Biennial of Sculptures of Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou

2019 Africa Universe, Primo Marella, Milano

2019 Africa Universe, Primae Noctis, Lugano

2019 1.54 Contemporary African Fair, Primo Marella Gallery, London

2019 Paper Positions, Sakhile & Me, Frankfurt

2019 Summer Group Show, David Bloch Gallery, Marrakech

2019 Tripe Stories-Last chapter, Sakhile & Me, Frankfurt

2019 Histoires de Tripes- chapter III, Primae Noctis Gallery, Lugano

2019 Stories of Tripe-Chapter II, Sulger Buel Gallery, London

2019 1.54 Contemporary African Fair, Primo Marella Gallery, Marrakech

2019 Quintessense, Not a Gallery, Paris

2018 1.54 Contemporary African Fair, Primo Marella Gallery, London

2018 Volta show, Art Basel. Primae Noctis Gallery, Basel

2018 The Shrine, Zbel Manifesto. Museo Sa Bassa Blanca, Mallorca

2018 Black Sphinx II. Primo Marella Gallery, Milano

2018 Gold. MUCEM, Marseille

2018 Second Life. Macaal, Marrakech

2018 Second Life. Zbel Manifesto, Macaal, Marrakech

2018 1.54 Contemporary African Fair, Primo Marella Gallery, Marrakech

2018 Tripe Stories, David Bloch Gallery, Marrakech

2017 Group show. David Bloch Gallery, Marrakech

2017 Incubation. French Institute, Rabat

2016 Group show. David Bloch Gallery, Marrakech

2016 The Others. Kech Collective, Torino

2016 Wace project. Cop 22, Marrakech

2016 Group show. Black and White Gallery, Marrakech

2016 Arkane. Former slaughterhouses of Casablanca, Casablanca

2016 The Cave. Kech’collective, Marrakech Biennale

2016 From earth to sky. Zbel Manifesto, L’blassa, Biennale de Marrakech

2016 Incubation. French Institute, Riad Denise Masson, Marrakech

2015 Women and Religions. the Uzine, Casablanca

2015 Lights. Tazi Foundation, Casablanca

2015 Metamorphosis. Feminine Plural, Dar Bellarj, Marrakech

2014 Transmutation. Zbel Manifesto, Mohamed VI Museum, Rabat

2014 Pimp my garbage. Zbel Manifesto, L’blassa, Biennale de Marrakech

​Residencies:

2016 Kech Collective, Marrakech

2014 Dar bellarj, Feminin Pluriel, Marrakech