Opening reception : Thursday April 9 at 5 pm
Exhibition April 9–12, 2026
Open 11 am – 6 pm
Reactor Gallery · 4 bis Rue de la Truite · Usines Kugler · Geneva
Imprints, Metamorphoses and Vanitas
Nadia Akrémi’s work revolves around three essential notions: imprint, metamorphosis and vanitas.
Starting from her own fingerprints, the artist draws with an ultra-fine pen singular faces that emerge from the trace. Some of these figures transform into hybrid or mythological creatures. The imprint thus becomes a metaphor for identity and memory, a meeting point between the intimate and the universal.
Metamorphosis runs throughout her entire creative process: a trace becomes a face, a fragment of identity transforms into a presence. The notion of vanitas appears in certain works where the human imprint merges with skull symbols, recalling the fragility and finitude of existence.
This reflection continues in miniature works in which tattoos from Malabar chewing gums interact with gold leaf. These unexpected juxtapositions create a tension between the ephemeral and the precious, questioning the illusion of immortality as well as the obsession with grandeur.
During a trip to Prague, the discovery of Kafka’s universe deeply nourished this research. By creating his portrait inside a fingerprint, the guiding thread of the exhibition “Imprints, Metamorphoses and Vanitas” emerged, presented from April 9 to 12 at Reactor Gallery, Usine Kugler, Geneva: a journey moving from the imprint to the face, from the face to the creature, and ultimately to an awareness of finitude.
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French artist of Tunisian origin, Nadia Akrémi studied in several art schools. She obtained a DNAP at the Beaux-Arts of Annecy, followed by a DNSEP with highest honours from the Beaux-Arts of Toulouse. She later continued her studies at the Beaux-Arts of Geneva, where she obtained a diploma in creative activities. In 2002, she also completed an artistic residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
Since 2002, she has been teaching visual arts within the French national education system and lives in Saint-Marcellin, in the Isère region.
Her practice, primarily graphic and often miniature in scale, unfolds through drawing, watercolour, gold leaf work, installation, volume and artist books.
Her works have been presented at the Musée d’Arts Fantastiques in Brussels, at the Musée du Lac in Nernier, within the Chemin des artistes in the Drôme, as well as in group exhibitions in Paris and Hyères dedicated to small-format works.
In 2024, she presented a solo exhibition in Geneva with the association Cheminée Nord at Usine Kugler. In 2025, she was awarded the Talents de Femmes 83 – City of La Garde Prize.