World Languages and Cultures Professor Anna Rocca Publishes Chapter on Women and Photography in Africa

"Tunisia: Héla Ammar’s Tarz. A Reflective and Imaginative Memory Upon Dispossession"

This chapter focuses on Hela Ammar’s 2014 photographic installation Tarz, the Arabic word for “Embroidery.” Tarz combines Ammar’s photographs taken during the Tunisian revolution with old photographs and official documents chronicling historical landmark events.

The act of embroidering photographs, Rocca argues, rails against historical dispossession and encourages a contemplation upon civic accountability as well as dialogue between personal and collective memories. Furthermore, while grappling with questions of Tunisian historical memory, transmission and dispossession, Tarz also underscores the importance of counteracting historical fragmentation by means of ordinary acts of caring that the tactile aspects of embroidery evoke.