Safae Gounane lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied visual arts at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. Her work consists of paintings, animations, and videos. Her works are inspired by scenes from everyday life, addressing themes such as existentialism, intimacy, social structures, relationships, surrealism and feminism.

Monoprints

Safae finds inspiration from different places such as old archives; she is fascinated by the old encyclopedias. Her love for color schemes and photography are also incorporated in her work. Photography inspires her especially in terms of composition; you can easily capture a spontaneous moment, movement and intimacy. Safae takes inspiration from history, applying it to the 21st century, creating work that is clearly influenced by pop culture and modern relationships.

Arabic photography from the diaspora is also a source of inspiration for Safae, it makes her want to depict her own people as well. Intimacy is very important to her, especially in the image. Intimacy is not just a feeling for Safae, but also a way of looking. She loves playing with composition, zooming in/out and framing. She is very interested in the social structure of people; they can be friends or strangers. All these different identities fascinate her and from this she finds it interesting to play with narrative and create her own citizens/characters.

Image by Safae Gounane