Maïa Tellit Hawad's Ténelé Project at Sharjah Biennial Explores Tuareg Nomadic Imaginaries and Extractivism

At the 2025 Sharjah Biennial, Maïa Tellit Hawad, a lecturer and researcher at the Royal College of Art in London, will showcase the Ténelé project. This initiative includes two large indigo textiles, created in collaboration with 47 Tuareg women from northern Niger, featuring their names inscribed in Tifinagh. Hawad's research examines the effects of uranium mining and nuclear testing on the landscapes of the Sahara and the Tuareg people, particularly focusing on atomic tests in Ahaggar and uranium extraction in the Aïr region. In 2023, she collaborated with Brazilian filmmaker Ana Vaz on the film Meteoro. Drawing inspiration from her father, painter Hawad, and her mother, anthropologist Hélène Claudot-Hawad, her interdisciplinary work addresses themes of marginalization and extractivism.