The smell of freshness
Inès di Folco Jemni
17.01.26 - 14.02.26The smell of freshness is the first solo exhibition in the UK by French-Tunisian artist Inès di Folco Jemni, held at NıCOLETTı for Condo London 2026, for which the gallery hosts Magician Space, Beijing, presenting a solo exhibition by Yasmine Anlan Huang (documentation available here).
Conceived as a dialogue between two artists exploring themes of exile and migration from two different perspectives – North Africa and the Caribbean for Di Folco Jemni, and China for Huang –, both exhibitions take water as a central motif to investigate the relationship between historical narratives and natural processes.
In the main room, Di Folco Jemni’s exhibition centres on a large-scale, unstretched canvas suspended from the ceiling. Titled The Smell of Freshness, the work is a poetic homage to Rabia al-Adawiyya (also known as Rabia Basri, 713/717–801), an Iraqi poet and one of the first Sufi mystics. Characteristic of Di Folco Jemni’s practice, which explores themes of feminine spirituality through mystical figures and ancestral rites, the painting features two representations of Rabia, back to back on the same horse. This doubled figure evokes both Rabia’s reputation as a fierce, independent woman exploring the mystical potential of her natural surroundings and her legacy as one of the most significant intellectual figures of early Islam.
Set within an abstracted landscape shaped by eruptions of matter, colours, and textures, Di Folco Jemni’s Rabia navigates a space at the confluence of dream and reality – a space-time experienced from within through sensations and movements rather than linguistic structures. Here, the landscape becomes a protagonist with its own character: a carmine-red mountain looks like a volcano about to erupt, while lilac clouds merge with abstract amber forms recalling geological formations.
These ideas are furthered explored in Riparia, a triptych of works on paper named after the Latin term for riverbanks. Inspired by Afro-Cuban cosmogonies studied by the artist during a trip to La Havana, where she attended the Instituto Superior de Arte, the work is populated by Orishas – divine spirits or deities representing natural forces and human attributes. Following the course of a river from its source in the mountain to its flow into the ocean, Riparia features representations of Oya (goddess of storms); Elegua (protector of paths); Oshun (water spirit and patron saint of Cuba); as well as Yemaya (Orisha of the ocean), among others.
Together, Di Folco Jemni’s works trace the cyclical movement of water and the mythologies attached to natural elements across cultures, foregrounding feminine presence and spiritual continuity. By weaving narratives drawn from traditions that might otherwise appear disparate, the artist uses painting as a tool to revisit myth as a living archive—one that reconnects body, mind, and environment as interdependent forms of being.
di Folco Jemni graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2018. Recent exhibitions have been held at Crèvecœur, Paris, FR; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR; Magasins Généraux, Pantin, FR; Art Basel Miami, with Crèvecœur; and Paris Internationale, with Sissi Club. Her works are in the permanent collections of Rubell Collection, Miami, USA; Centre national the arts plastiques (Cnap), Paris, FR; Collezione Taurisano, Naples, IT; FCAC, Marseille, FR; Frac Sud, Marseille, FR; and Frac Île-de-France, Paris, FR.
