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Samira Bouabana

Graphic designer, educator and publisher.

I’m a freelancing designer and an Program manager and senoir lecturer/Assistant Professor in Graphic Design and Visual Communications at Beckmans College of Design. I’m one of the founders of Hall of Femmes, an initiative to highlight the work of women in the field of art direction and graphic design.

 

CURATORIAL STATEMENT

I’m interested in connection – connecting people to complex questions through design and art as well as connecting people to each other through these experiences. Through my work as a designer I’ve tried to broaden the perspectives of who is heard, seen, recognised and by so hopefully contributing to a more vivid design scene and history. Who and what can belong to a field of art, to its history, to certain questions, rooms and interpretations? My personal background as a child of two cultures has made me interested in cross cultural/mixed/double gazes, experiences and ”inbetweenness”, adding more complex narratives to how to see the world. I’m also interested in methods and collaborations, what I see as the infrastructures behind making great work.

 

SELECTED WORK

Hall of Femmes (2009–) aims to revise the history of design and inspire and raise awareness of gender equality within design, architecture and communication. The project was founded in 2009 with Angela Tillman Sperandio and includes lectures, exhibitions, podcasts, seminars and a book series, each book portraying a designer and her work through in-depth interviews and previously unpublished images. Women’s  contribution to the development of the profession had not been documented or had enough recognition, something HoF wants to change. In May 2013, Hall of Femmes produced a two-day design conference held at Moderna Museet in Stockholm with prominent speakers from the world of visual arts, communication and fashion. Invited speakers at the conference were: Barbara Kruger, Ruth Ansel, Janet Froelich, Ann-Sofie Back and Lucy Mc Rae to name a few.
Web page

Vi Gör Vad Vi Kan/ We Do What We Can (2015–2019) was a help relief organization started by a group of citizens, to provide aid to refugees arriving at the Greek island of Lesvos. 10 million Sek and equipment was collected and distributed to local initiatives working with health, hygiene, teaching and protection.

Centan (2017–2020). A local bistro started in 2017. My role was in design and communication as well as being the creative director of different kinds of collaborations with the local community, such as design commissions to the local school students and other local creatives and craftspeople.
Web
Instagram

Hjärta Smärta (2001–2011) was an award winning graphic design studio, established in 2001 by Angela Tillman Sperandio and me. The studio worked with a wide range of commissions – from identities to exhibition graphics and book design, but also with self initiated projects like Hall of Femmes. Hjärta Smärtas’ work is represented in the permanent collections of Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and The Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg.

 

TEACHING

I’m the head of the Visual Communication program at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, where I also teach courses in graphic design.
Web page

 

BIO

Swedish-Tunisian designer, teacher and publisher. Born in Sweden 1975. Worked within the field of design since 2001.

 

FORMATION

Vrå Höjskole, preparation art course, Denmark 2005

Art History, Stockholm university, 1998–99

Culture Sociology, Malmö högskola, distance, 1998

Forsbergs school, graphic design, Stockholm, 1999–2001

Art & Architecture, course, Kungliga Konsthögskolan, Stockholm, 2002

Design thinking for educators, 2016

Citizens Sweden, community organizing, 2016

 

EXHIBITIONS

Ung svensk form, 2001–2002

Alphabet: an Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Lettering and Experimental Typography, USA 2005¬2006

Konceptdesign, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 2005

Vårsalongen Formbart, Liljevachs Konsthall, Stockholm, 2005

Tokyo Hipster Club, Tokyo, 2005

Civic Matters, Los Angeles, 2006

Den handfasta rörelsen, Liljevachs Konsthall, Stockholm, 2008

 

LINKS

Hall of Femmes

Beckmans College of Design

Centan

Barbara Stauffacher Solomon Talks About Sea Ranch Supergraphics from halloffemmes on Vimeo.

 

The realization of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon’s supergraphic @ Centan, Bagarmossen, Sweden from halloffemmes on Vimeo.

 

 


Cyrus Karibu: Slay Queen (2018).
Photo: SMAC Gallery.

Online | 27 January to 28 February 2021 | Free Access

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Exhibition | Artists | Program
Presenting artists an curators working with e-waste as artistic material.

An TASAWAR Project.