Valentin Noujaïm blurs the boundaries between cinema and video art. Born in France to Egyptian and Lebanese parents, he interweaves real and imagined lives to create complex narratives, populated by enigmatic creatures. His work holds a mirror up to the complexities of power and dominance – particularly racial – at play in contemporary society. In his films Noujaïm blends the history of colonialism with more intimate stories of family and everyday life, merging collective and individual memories. His filmic works offer a political narrative and celebrate the muted revolt of marginalized voices. In Saturnalia (2023), a decadent Roman banquet is the setting for the rebellion of three servant girls of color against the humiliations they are made to endure. Similarly, To Exist Under Permanent Suspicion (2024) presents the dreams of destruction and revolt of a Black businesswoman promoting a new office skyscraper.

在這位德國藝術家於紐約貝浩登（Perrotin）舉辦的首次個展「When the Sun Hits the Moon」中，有幾幅畫作是初次亮相，主題為安東尼奧．卡諾瓦（Antonio Canova）的新古典主義雕塑中描繪的愛神厄洛斯與普姬幾乎接吻的場景。愛神不允許他的世間愛人看到他在光明中的樣子；當普姬拿著蠟燭對著愛神面龐的那一刻，這對戀人就永久地斷開了聯繫。Greven說：「我喜歡這個意象，因為我捕捉到的那一刻，他們還在互相對視，但未真正看見對方的面貌。他們仍處於黑暗之中，以內心注視和以內在擁抱。」

The artist also explores the fractured histories of his own family and its experiences of exile, as in The Blue Star (2019-2020) in which he draws on his personal archives, to trace the life of a man emigrating to France, escaping to a place where his language could be understood. In Avant d’oublier Héliopolis (2019), the filmmaker asks his grandmother to recall her youth in Cairo, blending postcolonial heritage with family mythology. Noujaïm’s work, marked by collective resistance and radical emancipation, reminds us that struggles and dreams, revolutions and the imaginary, remain as intimately linked to each other in history as they are in the present moment.