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A hood like no other - Djerbahood - street art oasis
A decade ago, the peaceful, traditional Djerban village of Erriadh, with its timeless whitewashed houchs (houses), metamorphosed into an open-air art gallery. - Djerbahood.
The Djerbahood project is the brainchild of Mehdi Ben Cheik, founder and director of the Itinerrance gallery in Paris, a key player on the international street art scene and curator of large-scale projects. In 2014 and then again in 2021, Erriadh welcomed 200 street artists from 30 different nationalities who infused new life into the facades of the ‘houchs’ - traditional Djerba dwellings.
Erriadh is one of Tunisia's oldest communities, where Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived together for centuries, and its reputation as a place of exchange and tolerance is legendary.
In June 2024, I visited Djerbahood, deliberately getting lost in its oleander and bougainvillea-lined alleyways and photographing it mostly in the early morning light. I was familiar with the works of many of the international artists involved, having seen them not only on the walls of Itinerrance and on the streets of Paris's eclectic 13th arrondissement, but also, as in the case of Inti, in Santiago de Chile, Delhi and Athens.
Occasionally I'd look up and see the 'mobile eyes' of Tunisian visual artist Najah Zarbout watching over me. Her moving installation 'Eyes Open' is scattered across the rooftops of Djerbahood.
In Djerbahood, the traditional and the contemporary meet and coexist within this unique and ever-evolving artistic adventure.
Merci beaucoup, Galerie Itinerrance
Thanks to the featured artists:
Add Fuel, Ahlem Mahjoub, Akachat, Aruma, BTOY, Crypitch, El Seed, Fares Cachoux, Hush, Hydro, Hyuro, Inti, It’s a living, Fernand Kayser, M-City, Akachat, Najah Zarbout, Retrograffitism, Shepard Fairey, ST4 Crew, Tinho
A decade ago, the peaceful, traditional Djerban village of Erriadh, with its timeless whitewashed houchs (houses), metamorphosed into an open-air art gallery. - Djerbahood.
The Djerbahood project is the brainchild of Mehdi Ben Cheik, founder and director of the Itinerrance gallery in Paris, a key player on the international street art scene and curator of large-scale projects. In 2014 and then again in 2021, Erriadh welcomed 200 street artists from 30 different nationalities who infused new life into the facades of the ‘houchs’ - traditional Djerba dwellings.
Erriadh is one of Tunisia's oldest communities, where Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived together for centuries, and its reputation as a place of exchange and tolerance is legendary.
In June 2024, I visited Djerbahood, deliberately getting lost in its oleander and bougainvillea-lined alleyways and photographing it mostly in the early morning light. I was familiar with the works of many of the international artists involved, having seen them not only on the walls of Itinerrance and on the streets of Paris's eclectic 13th arrondissement, but also, as in the case of Inti, in Santiago de Chile, Delhi and Athens.
Occasionally I'd look up and see the 'mobile eyes' of Tunisian visual artist Najah Zarbout watching over me. Her moving installation 'Eyes Open' is scattered across the rooftops of Djerbahood.
In Djerbahood, the traditional and the contemporary meet and coexist within this unique and ever-evolving artistic adventure.
Merci beaucoup, Galerie Itinerrance
Thanks to the featured artists:
Add Fuel, Ahlem Mahjoub, Akachat, Aruma, BTOY, Crypitch, El Seed, Fares Cachoux, Hush, Hydro, Hyuro, Inti, It’s a living, Fernand Kayser, M-City, Akachat, Najah Zarbout, Retrograffitism, Shepard Fairey, ST4 Crew, Tinho
