Now 31, Bouassida was born in Tunis and lives in the port city Sfax, from where she spoke to The Irish Times. She tags her work as Ouma.Tunisia’s migrant crisis: ‘We would prefer to risk our life than to be killed like a fowl in our own country’Twelve years on, she says there is an active graffiti and street art community in Tunisia but, at that time, Bouassida thought she was the only one. She then discovered more artists through social media.
In the past, there were other authoritarian controls, including secret police. “You can’t even talk freely on the street about particular subjects – religion. You will be always afraid of the people around you,” Bouassida recalls. Feminism is “not only about my art, it’s a way of living. It’s a mindset”, she says. At the same time, she had pushback from women in France, for example, when she travelled, as they questioned her interpretation of feminism. “I think as an Arab woman, each woman could have her own definition,” Bouassida says. In Tunisia, “it’s not only about gender equal[ity]. It’s not about 50/50. It’s about accepting one another.
“Our country, it’s a portal to Europe,” says Bouassida. “I tried to do this art piece where I did two hands, representing a boat. It expresses how we should accept one another despite our differences. We should live together and try to find solutions together.”