As a French Moroccan woman, I have always looked for my roots. As a visual artist I am
attracted by the visual genetic sign of my family's heritage.
I have always heard my mum telling me "you have the eyebrows of your grandma (dad side)".
So I began to play with the ID pictures I could collect from both side of my family. And
through a simple compositing ( my own picture + my grandma picture) I realized that's a
legend but it's better... I have her eyes. The eyes were my only way (with hugs) to
communicate with my grandma because I can't speak Moroccan and she couldn't speak French.
But we could understand each other a lot through our eyes. Beyond this finding it's the
emotional heritage we got when we are born. An other way to travel in Time.
Graduated from ENSAA Duperré in Paris since 1995, Sonia Hamza studied
photography there : to develop black and white film and print her photographs.
To complete the initial training, she joined the Central Saint Martins ' School of Art and Design in London where she obtained a higher year Applied Art degree.
Then she trained as a Fashion designer with paper modeling and computer graphics .
Photography is an important part of her reseaches in Fashion, as well as for visual than for shapes.
Finally taking pictures become an escape to her fashion design work.
When she attends the photographer Jonathan Abbou by coloring images, she gets her first artistic approach.
Sonia Hamza works at the same time textile sculptures, paintings and photograph during her artistic residency in 59Rivoli, in Paris.
Just after that, photograph becomes her first activity instead of Fashion design, thanks to an analog training.
Sonia Hamza is always looking for a visual writing which would combine textile and photograph, which are both her favorite domains.
Because she doesn't want to give up textile, she studied with Claude-Marie Thibert-Boutou, "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" - a creator and maker of tapestry sculptures- tapestry-liciery.
The artistic approach of this great artist and her career as a woman artist inspires Sonia Hamza.
The artist doesn't want to avoid integrating textile in her photograph work.
She tries to transfer her images on textile thanks to photosensitive products or interpreting her photographs in tapestry and any weaving make with band of printed fabrics with her pictures.
Sonia Hamza photograph universe is fed by her atypical past.
