Chemsedine Herriche is an artist who delves into the intricate relationship between memory both personal and collective and its interpretation. Through a diverse range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation, and video, Herriche weaves together the tangible and the intangible, crafting fictions that reveal the inherent instability of our spatial and temporal experiences.

At the heart of Herriche's work lies the concept of home, which extends to a broader reflection on the tension between our inner lives and the external world, the factuality of narratives, and the latitude for interpretation. His creative process is fuelled by personal archives that he skilfully merges with ancestral mythologies. For instance, in his Ostraca series, he intertwines oral family histories and fragmented memories with the ancient Egyptian practice of using pottery shards as makeshift notebooks.

Herriche’s approach is deeply rooted in a culture of subverting objects and techniques, deliberately blurring distinctions. His paintings, layered like the strata of time, embrace an aesthetic of blur, cultivating opacity and mystery. Drawing from the tradition of sfumato, Herriche reinvents the technique by incorporating raw, industrial elements such as those found in urban architecture. The stark contrast between these elements and the softness of sfumato amplifies the visual impact of his work. Mirrored surfaces and blurred images come to life on solid media such as plaster tiles, limestone blocks, or steel sheets. Elliptical motifs recur throughout his art, resonating with their literary counterparts and symbolising a journey through time.

Herriche's work is imbued with what Leonardo da Vinci referred to as Cosa mentale a matter of the mind where thought and spirit play a central role in creation. This philosophy guides him as he continues to push his artistic boundaries towards monumental installations, where architectural scale becomes a testament to the experience of time, driving his exploration ever further.