Selmen Nahdi

It was on May 16th (1966) that the Cultural Revolution began in China, on May 16th (1717) that Voltaire was sent to the Bastille, on May 16th (1983) that Michael Jackson performed for the first time the moonwalk and a 16 May (1987) that Selmen Nahdi was born in Béjà, in the North-West of Tunisia. Selmen takes her first steps, both in the family room and in the scribbles. He can not yet speak that he already knows how to hold his "first red capless felt at the end of life," generously offered by "a great cousin."

Then he grows up, and his talent too. In 2005, he flew to Paris, where he quickly obtained a professional baccalaureat Graphic arts and crafts. He then went on to make his first training in professional makeup specializing in special effects, and a second in design. Diplomas in his pocket, he immerses himself in the world of advertising, making a detour by the communication department of the French Ministry of the Interior, then by the agency AtchUm, and the agency Alinéa in Paris. This will last 5 years. It flourishes, but not enough.

The call of the brush catches up with him. Selmen decides to return to Tunis, a few months later, it is the Revolution. He, who refuses the term "young activist", believes that his contribution is the same as any young person of his generation, will nevertheless distinguish himself by his publications of squeaky and powerful caricatures, sometimes taking risks in a country where freedom of expression still struggled to impose itself. His works, taken up by numerous media, like "Jeune Afrique", have earned him to be invited to numerous cultural events, both in Tunisia and abroad. He began his career with collective exhibitions, taking part in the Carnival of Cultures in Berlin in 2011, and was called to perform at the ISIE (Independent High Authority for Elections), where, censored and appeared in the press, day of the elections, are exposed. He then presented his work in France, the collective exhibition "Le peuple veut", was hosted by the mayor of the 10th arrondissement in Paris and then in Caen.

In 2012, Selmen Nahdi's drawings are exhibited at the Petit Palais in Paris, at the town hall of the 16th and then the 17th. In parallel to his drawings, he paints. All the time, everywhere. One of his paintings fascinates a gallery owner, who immediately proposes to him, to present his first personal exhibition. In 2014, "Expression S", at the gallery "Ghaya" (Sidi Bou Saïd), is a great success. Through faces with sometimes mysterious, sometimes suspicious, sometimes evasive, and always profound, faces, he drives the spectator to question. His second solo exhibition, one year later, is presented at the Agora Cultural Space (La Marsa). Again, face and body show fragments of the being. This time, explosion of colors, sagging, new materials, are in the image of his personal journey. An exhibition of evolution, where grace and revolt contained are at the rendezvous. Meanwhile, he regularly participates in cultural and associative events (German Embassy, Palais Khair-Eddine ...) and even creates a comic strip for children, within the framework of a UN program.