Houria Niati
{{short description|Algerian artist (born 1948)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
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| birth_place = Khemis Miliana, French Algeria
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| known_for = Installation art
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| website = {{URL|http://www.hourianiati.com/}}
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Houria Niati (born 1948) is an Algerian contemporary artist living in London.{{cite book|last1=Fairchild Ruggles|first1=D. |author-link=D. Fairchild Ruggles |title=Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies|date=2006|publisher=SUNY Press|location=Albany|isbn=0791493075|pages=243|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akbOBsRw_nsC|access-date=6 March 2015}}{{Cite book|first=Salah M|last=Hassan|title=Gendered Visions: The Art of Contemporary Africana Women Artists|publisher=Africa World Press, Inc|year=1997|location=Trenton, NJ|pages=9}} Niati specializes in mixed media installations that criticize Western representations and objectification of north African and Middle Eastern women.{{cite journal|last1=De Weever|first1=Jacqueline|title=Review: Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies by D. FAIRCHILD RUGGLES|journal=Arthuriana|date=Spring 2004|volume=14|issue=1|pages=114–116|jstor=27870591|doi=10.1353/art.2004.0029|s2cid=201754269}} Her installations notably have live performances most commonly traditional Algerian music such as Raï, as a key visual representation of Niati's homeland and culture. Salah M. Hassan further details her performances, "She uses synthesizers, sound recordings, and special light effects to create a theatrical atmosphere and a vibrant magical environment of sound, body movement, and color."{{Cite book|title=Gendered Visions|last=Hassan|first=Salah M.|publisher=Africa World Press, Inc.|year=1997|isbn=0-86543-619-3|pages=103}} The installations and exhibitions join together paintings, sculptures, drawings, photos, soundtracks, and performances.
Early life and career
Niati grew up in French-occupied Algeria, where over one million Algerians were killed for resisting occupation. When Niati was twelve years old, she demonstrated against French colonialism with her anti-colonial graffiti, which landed her in jail. Niati's experiences with the French occupation and eventual revolution of her people greatly influenced her art later in life.
Niati moved to London in the late 1970s, where she observed Western art that depicted Algerian people, especially women, in a fictionalized and exotic way. This influenced her own depictions of post-colonial cultures, nations, and people. She attended Camden Arts Centre and Croydon College of Art,{{Cite journal|url = http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nka/summary/v003/3.hassan.html|title = The Installations of Houria Niati|last = Hassan|first = Salah M.|date = 26 January 2013|journal = Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art|volume = 3|issue = 1|pages = 50–55|access-date = 7 March 2015}} and later went on to get an MA in Fine Arts at Middlesex University.{{Cite web|url=http://hourianiati.com/introduction.php|title=Houria Niati - MA Fine Arts|website=hourianiati.com|access-date=4 March 2020|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506165204/http://hourianiati.com/introduction.php|url-status=dead}}
Selected exhibitions
- 1983: Five Black Women, Africa Centre, London
- 1984: Into the Open: New Painting, Prints and Sculpture by Contemporary Black Artists, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield{{Cite book|last=Keen|first=Melanie|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36076932|title=Recordings : a select bibliography of contemporary African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British art|date=1996|publisher=Institute of International Visual Arts and Chelsea College of Art and Design|others=Elizabeth Ward, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Institute of International Visual Arts|isbn=1-899846-06-9|location=London|oclc=36076932}}
- 1986: From Two Worlds, Whitechapel Gallery, London
- 1988: An Exhibition of Pastels & Paintings by Houria Niati, Africa Centre, London
- 1990: No to the Torture, first displayed at the Cartwright Hall Museum in Bradford, England, in 1990
- 1991: Four x 4, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
- 1991: Bringing Water from the Fountain, first displayed at the Harris Museum in Preston, England, 1991
- 2013: Houria Niati: Identity Search, Conway Hall, London, UK{{Cite web|url = http://www.aawsat.net/2013/09/article55316808/houria-niati-identity-search|title = Houria Niati: Identity Search|date = 16 September 2013|access-date = 7 March 2015|website = Asharq Al Awsat|last = Highet|first = Juliet|archive-date = 2 April 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150402145528/http://www.aawsat.net/2013/09/article55316808/houria-niati-identity-search|url-status = dead}}
Publications
Niati, Houria (1999). "Diverse Bodies of Experiences". In Lloyd, Fran (ed). [http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/hol051/00304191.html Contemporary Arab Women's Art: Dialogues of the Present]. WAL Women's Art Library. {{ISBN|9781902770000}}.
References
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Category:Algerian emigrants to England
Category:Algerian women artists
Category:English women artists
Category:British installation artists
Category:Algerian contemporary artists
Category:20th-century Algerian artists
Category:21st-century Algerian artists
Category:20th-century English women
Category:20th-century English people
Category:21st-century English women
Category:21st-century English artists
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