I use oil paint to examine how identity is constructed, performed, and perceived. Centering on close-up gazes, my work explores moments of psychological tension. The gaze becomes a charged threshold — intimate yet distancing — where fragility, restraint, and projection intersect.
WERIEM is a French-Tunisian artist based in the USA. Her work explores identity and melancholy through theatrical and historical imagery. She has presented solo exhibitions in Chicago (2024, 2025) and Minneapolis (2026). Her work has been shown in the USA and internationally, including in Los Angeles, Portland, Boise, and Paris. In 2026, she will undertake a residency in New York City. Trained in classical painting (Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts (scholarship laureate), Florence Academy of Art), she won the People’s choice award at Chicago’s Bridgeport Art Center in 2025. Her previous work as a costume designer for opera institutions was praised by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune. Although always an artist at heart, she began her professional path with a PhD in biology, a foundation that continues to inform the precision and detail in her work.
