Chalisée Naamani: Octogone

At Palais de Tokyo, Franco-Iranian artist Chalisée Naamani presents an in-situ installation of “image dresses”—large digital collages printed on various materials, made from photos taken on her phone or sourced online. Her work explores how bodies are shaped, performed, and reimagined.

Guided by the architecture of the space, Naamani draws inspiration from its half-octagonal layout, evoking the Iranian zurkhaneh—a traditional gym for strength and resistance training. She responds playfully to this echo with sculptures and image-based forms that turn the space into a hybrid of arena, catwalk, and sports hall.

Naamani weaves together images of her weightlifting grandfather, her gym-trained body, and her newborn’s. These personal images collide with anonymous ones found online—from social media, history books, and self-help guides—blurring boundaries between private and public, archive and embodiment. In her work, bodies become images, and images become bodies—malleable, plural, and free.