Back to index of Nerve 12 - Summer 2008

Ouardia Rabia

By Colin Serjent

Ouardia, who moved to England from North Algeria in 2003, has been an artist for fifteen years.

Her main preoccupation is working with textiles, using a small base sewing machine in her house. She designs women’s dresses, bed covers, and table and stall covers.

Ouardia, who is linked with the Berber Heritage - which is the culture of the people of Algeria - had her work, including Berber clothes and belts, shown at the Metaconceptual Gallery in Roscoe Street in Liverpool in 2006 in an exhibition set up by Sola Arts, a Liverpool-based community arts organisation, titled ‘The Windows Of Connecting Customs’.

During the 2006 Liverpool Arts Biennial, she was part of a group of artists who made special banners. “They represented symbols of peace, with one of them representing the welcome of refugees to England,” commented Ouardia. They were both shown at the ‘Out of the Bluecoat Shop’ in Hanover Street in Liverpool city centre.

She then had an exhibition, named ‘Life in Three’, commissioned by the Black and Equality Merseyside group, the three in question being memory, freedom and peace. A film and flag were produced to mark this exhibition. The flag was placed at the front of Toxteth town hall, and also flown inside the trees of Formby nature reserve. “Formby reminds me of home,” she said. The film was screened during the 2007 Refugee Week in Manchester.

Despite being deluged with rain throughout most of the 2007 WOMAD festival, Ouardia ran workshops for children about Berber culture.