Born in the banlieue to North African parents, Olfa Ben Ali grew up amid the concrete geometries of social housing — a space that shaped her critical gaze and sensitivity to the politics of space, identity, and belonging. Her work draws on postcolonial thought and French sociology, bridging Fanon’s lived experience of the periphery and Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and social space.

 

Rooted in the practices of her shepherd father and tapestry-making mother, Olfa reconnects with nature as a counterpoint to urban alienation. She maintains her own farm in northern France, cultivating dye plants and trees and collaborating with local shepherds and farmers — following processes from farm to fabric to form. Her multidisciplinary practice combines ecological research and social inquiry through an experimental, haptic, and intuitive approach.

 

Graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Fine Art, Olfa has exhibited internationally, including at the Stedelijk Museum, and at festivals such as IDFA. She trained at Studio Claudy Jongstra, developing expertise in biodynamic textiles and color research, and now develops her independent studio and farm to explore sustainable material research and expand her visual language. She has also collaborated with Ai Weiwei (Human Flow) and Vivienne Westwood (I Am Not a Terrorist – This Is Not Charity).

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Committed to knowledge transfer, she leads workshops with institutions and diverse, underrepresented communities, exploring memory, identity, and transgenerational narratives through craft and material, transforming them into poetic reflection.