Hoda Tawakol. Roots

About

Gardens are places of cultural identity that lie at the intersection of nature and culture. Although they are an integral part of everyday culture, they appear in the city like oases in which one's own relationship to nature becomes apparent. The perception of one's own physicality in the “natural” environment of the garden allows one to experience oneself and one's own identity in a new way. The work of the Hamburg-based French-Egyptian artist Hoda Tawakol (*1968, in London, Great Britain) begins at this point. Drawing on biographical experiences, she creates connections between traditions and rituals, different cultures and forms of flora and fauna. In her works, Hoda Tawakol not only brings together a wide range of questions about environmental and natural issues, but also about gender politics and physical cultures, which are also anchored in the materiality of her artistic work. With her work she asks about the role of plants in our environment in the formation of identity. Where does culture begin, where does nature end and where – but also how – do we as humans locate ourselves in this theoretical construct? Tawakol's artistic practice invites visitors to reflect on these questions and challenges them on a sensual and intellectual level.

Hoda Tawakol is developing a new site-specific work for the garden of the Georg Kolbe Museum. With her textile outdoor work she creates spaces for debate: with native and non-native plants, with her own and other identities, as well as experiences and challenges that appeal to the senses but also stimulate thoughts. The artist creates a new place to linger, work and view in the museum's historic sculpture garden. With an extensive program, the artist and the Georg Kolbe Museum invite you to a summer in the garden, which encourages us to reposition and encounter the place, the art, our surroundings and ourselves.

Hoda Tawakol's works are tender and powerful at the same time. The recurring motif of the palm tree becomes an intimate symbol of her identity and the longing for a place where she never lived. A wide variety of textiles are used in her sculptural works, but resin, paper, hair and wood are also recurring materials. Most recently, the Dortmunder Kunstverein dedicated a solo exhibition to her in 2023, and Hoda Tawakols has already had solo and group exhibitions in, among others, Mathaf Doha, Qatar, the Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, the Museum for Art in Wood, Philadelphia, USA, and the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, in the Kunstverein Hamburger Bahnhof, Hamburg, in the Lothringer13 - Städtische Kunsthalle Munich, or in the Weserburg Museum Bremen. She studied at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, where she lives and works today.