Chalisée Naamani's 'Octogone' at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen Explores Migration, Masculinity, and the Body Through Garments

Key facts

• Chalisée Naamani's exhibition 'Octogone' is on view at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen in St. Gallen until 13 September 2026.
• The exhibition explores migration, masculinity, protest, and the politics of the body through garments transformed into sculptural archives.
• Naamani's vêtements-images combine textiles, family photographs, political symbols, and popular culture into layered compositions between garment, painting, and sculpture.
• The Iranian Zurkhaneh, a traditional male space for physical and moral training, inspired the exhibition's title and structure.
• The exhibition references the Women, Life, Freedom movement and the Yellow Vests alongside personal family archives and reflections on motherhood.
• Naamani's practice is influenced by collage, Dada, and social media algorithms, and she cites Paul B. Preciado's 'An Apartment on Uranus'.
• The exhibition creates a generational line from Naamani's grandfather, a wrestler and boxer, to her son, connecting sport, motherhood, and the body.
• Works in the exhibition include 'Life is a carrousel (Pharrell Williams)' (2025), 'Bunch of Flowers' (2025), 'Love and Ornament' (2025), 'Cape et gilet jaune' (2020), and 'L'Octogone' (2023).