An Abrouc in the Archive: Fatma Charfi’s Golfe in Brief Historiographic Perspective
Episode 244
An Abrouc in the Archive: Fatma Charfi’s Golfe in Brief Historiographic Perspective
This podcast is part of the two-part event program, in which art historian Jessica Gerschultz discusses Fatma Charfi’s work Golfe presented at the 1991 Lausanne Biennale and Charfi’s engagement with textile art and spatial environments throughout her work.
Jessica Gerschultz is a Lecturer at the School of Art History at the University of St. Andrews. Her research examines modern and contemporary textile art, artistic practices related to artisanal techniques, and feminist histoires of art. She is the author of Decorative Arts of the Tunisian École: Fabrications of Modernism, Gender, and Power (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019), produced with a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. Her current project, Fiber Art Constellations, traces transregional networks of artists across sites in the Arab world, Africa, and former Soviet-bloc countries to propose a feminist history of modern tapestry.
This podcast was recorded at the A.Gorgi gallery in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, on the 30th of September 2026.
We thank Mr. Souheib Zallazi, (student at CFT, Tunisia) and Mr. Malek Saadani (student at ULT, Tunisia), for their interpretation of “el Ardh Ardhi” of Sabri Mesbah, performed for the introduction and conclusion of this podcast. Souheib on melodica and Malek on guitar.
Montage : Lena Krause, AIMS Development and Digital Resources Liaison au Centre d’Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT).
Suggested Bibliography
Gerschultz, Jessica. “An aesthetic ecosystem in Adrian Pepe’s 'Untitled Braided Shearlings': Art and resilience in Lebanon.” In Craft and war: Makers, users and craft since the 19th century, edited by Jennifer Way, Heather Smith, and Alida Jekabson, pp. 79-98. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2026.
Scheid, Kirsten & Jessica Gerschultz. “The art of women: gendering histories of modern Arab art.”
In The I.B. Tauris handbook to gendering the cultural histories of the modern Arab world, edited by Hoda Elsadda and Seteney Shami, p. 351-386. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2026.
Gerschultz, Jessica. “Tracing lines, forging connectivity: the tapestries of Amine El Bacha and Antoine Saadé (1984-1985).” Manazir Journal 7 (Dec 2025): 133-159.
“Safia Farhat’s Hybrid Creatures in Civic Spaces.” post: notes on art in a global context, MoMA, 26 January 2022.
Gerschultz, Jessica. “Women's Tapestry and the Poetics of Renewal: Threading Mid-Century Practices.” The Journal of Modern Craft 13, no. 1 (2020): 37-50.
Gerschultz, Jessica. Decorative Arts of the Tunisian École: Fabrications of Modernism, Gender, and Power. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019.
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Slides
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