Imed Ben Tahar

Artist biography

I have painted since my earliest childhood. I grew up in Souk Lahad, a small oasis town on the edge of the Sahara in Tunisia. As a young artist I met with little enthusiasm in my surroundings. Art, and the fine arts in particular, did not enjoy much standing at the time. But that never stopped me from carrying on painting and, over time, learning a range of techniques.

My childhood fascination was carried by a deep curiosity. For me, painting was a mystery, a game with endless, ever-changing possibilities. The wish to discover the world through painting has never let go of me since.

In Souk Lahad I lacked artistic openness. I felt confined and first attended a tourism institute in Tunis. After that I led tour groups through the desert in the south of Tunisia. Finally, in 1995, I came to Tübingen.

Here too, in a foreign country, painting remained a fixed part of my life, until I finally devoted myself to it entirely.

The experiences of my childhood, the vastness of the desert and life between different cultures have shaped my artistic development lastingly. Today I live and work as a freelance artist in Tübingen. My abstract painting is an expression of a personal engagement with memory, identity and the perception of our world.