Tifinagh: an evidence, a revival
Tifinagh evidence
Plexiglass alphapets, Ink on cards, Plastic bags 2019
Tifinagh is the ancient (Libyc) african script, It is attested from the 2nd millennium BC to the present time.
The use of script came to disappear from official use during the Arab-Islamic conquest, and later in present times through the political repression by the different governments in the region and colonial movements.
Today, the Neo-Tifinagh (a recent standard version of the script which came to use in the 20th century) is written from left to right, while ancient inscriptions showed versions from right to left, bottom to top and top to bottom.
Barnosa places the ancient letters she natively uses in her daily brain function inside a plastic bag, same as the one used in collecting crime evidence, or for selling commodities, questioning both preservation and isolation, one as a generational tools of resistance.
Curated by Misal Adnan for Mutterzunge, Uqbar Berlin 2019
TUMAST
Inks and printmaking on handmade papers
50* 70 cm
2019
Barnosa’s work focused on the use of Tifinagh alphabet, the original language of North African countries before the arab conquest in the region, The language is widely spoken and used in Morocco, Algeria, and Libya, also in villages in Tunis and Egypt. However, the Tamazight race and culture was denied in the Libyan social fabric until the revolution of 2011, the tamazight roots in Libya spreads over the cost, the nafusa mountains and the desert.
Barnosa used this poem by the Libyan poet Saied Sifaw who was assassinated by the former regime, spoke out and wrote about the struggle of identity and belonging, and how the leaders want to obress it and deny its existence.
