Djahida HOUADEF was born on April 1, 1963 in N’gaous in the Aurès where her artistic journey begins. She is a graduate of Ecoles, Nationale et Supérieure des Beaux-arts d’Alger and has long practiced teaching art in high schools and private schools in the capital. She also led a children’s art workshop at the National Museum of Fine Arts from 1987 to 2011. Djahida HOUADEF’s painting is an eternal self-portrait, a succession of images combining nature, interior ornaments and traditions. She paints and depicts the intimacy of these inner worlds managed by women, in contrast to the male extramural domain. So many fragments of a Aurassian childhood. Thus, she approaches the woman, but also the childhood through her meticulous brushstrokes with frank and ingenuous colors; the silhouettes are gracious but generous, nature is abundant with fauna and flora with magical aspects. We find ourselves in front of the finished work of a colorist who masters her subject. Her work is a process of perpetual research and pushing the boundaries of the imagination. She is meticulous in the exercise of various techniques including collage; in short, a poetic expression through colour. Djahida HOUADEF’s career is enriched by various distinctions, her works are exhibited in museums and are part of many private collections around the world. She has a multitude of solo and group exhibitions in different Algerian cities but her fame has also spread abroad through exhibitions in Morocco, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, France, Spain, Greece and United States.
