Zineb Sedira 2025 Photo: Alexandra de Saint Blanquat © Zineb Sedira. Courtesy Mennour, Paris, Goodman Gallery, London and Selma Feriani, Tunis.
Zineb Sedira (b.1963, France) will be the next artist to undertake the Tate Britain Commission. Unveiled for the first time on 13 May 2026, Sedira’s major new work will be the latest response to the unique context of the neo-classical Duveen Galleries at the heart of Tate Britain. On view until 17 January 2027, this will be the artist’s largest commission in the UK to date.
Over the past three decades, Zineb Sedira has developed a powerful and multifaceted artistic practice spanning photography, performance, video, and installation. Sedira's work draws on personal encounters within the Algerian diaspora of Africa. Taking inspiration from family archives and the history of cinema, she bridges the political and the poetic, thoughtfully exploring themes of memory, migration and trauma. Her installations invite audiences to consider the emotional and geographical dimensions of displacement, while critically examining dominant historical narratives. By keeping histories alive, her storytelling becomes both an act of resistance and a gesture of connection, affirming her place as a significant and influential voice in today’s cultural landscape.
Zineb Sedira said: “Taking on the Tate Britain Commission feels both monumental and intimate. It’s about bringing the weight of history into dialogue with the living pulse of the Pan-African experience. It gives me the opportunity to imagine new stories, new energies, and new meanings.”
Alex Farquharson, Director, Tate Britain, said: "We are delighted that Zineb Sedira is undertaking next year’s Tate Britain Commission. Sedira is a vital force in contemporary art, celebrated for her immersive, multi-sensory installations that offer a nuanced reflection on history, memory, identity and belonging. We’re excited to see how she will transform the Duveen Galleries with her unique vision“
Zineb Sedira was born in Paris in 1963 to Algerian parents. She moved to London in the 1980, completing her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Central St Martin's School of Art and the Slade School of Art, followed by a research fellowship at the Royal College of Art. Working between the mediums of photography, film, installation and performance, Sedira is best known for her explorations of the human dimension of geopolitical change. She represented France at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 with Dreams Have No Titles, a critically acclaimed installation inspired by militant cinema and her family's immigrant journey. Her work is held in major public collections including Tate, Centre Pompidou, Sharjah Art Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and she has exhibited widely across Europe, North Africa, and North America.
Tate Britain Commission: Zineb Sedira is the latest in a series of contemporary commissions for artists to develop a new site-specific work in Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries. Artists who have previously undertaken commissions in the Duveens include Alvaro Barrington (2024), Hew Locke (2022), Heather Phillipson (2021), Mike Nelson (2019), Anthea Hamilton (2018), Cerith Wyn Evans (2017), Pablo Bronstein (2016), Christina Mackie (2015), and Phyllida Barlow (2014).