Au Revoir Tunis
In the series Au Revoir Tunis a four-generation Tunisian bridal trousseau is woven together. In Maguy – Max, 21 Janvier 1953 the bride is framed by a purple and gold vest made for her pre-nuptial henna ceremony. Peacocks embellish the backside. Through a veil of delicately sewn silk flowers, the ones that adorned Maguy’s grandmother’s wedding canopy, the young bride looks up admiringly towards the groom. The stamp of the original wedding photographer, Paul Brami, who caught the spark in Maguy’s eye - graces the right side of the composition. Still visible is his address: 8, Rue D’Alger, Tunis.
Years later Maguy and Max’s daughter does not pose in a studio for a formal wedding portrait like her mother did in Tunis, or her grandmother did – proud like a peacock - on her Honeymoon in ‘Algers’. In the City of Light she’s depicted bounding out of an American car onto a Parisian boulevard. Gone are the accoutrements of a traditional Tunisian trousseau; only a golden jewel - a hamsa, an ancient Mediterranean good luck charm - is buried in the folds of her white dress.
The rhythm of this family’s life was disrupted, when French rule ended in Tunisia. Maguy recalled, “My husband said, ‘when the French leave, we leave.’ And we did – to Paris.” Years later Maguy followed her married daughter to America and in Maguy’s tiny apartment her father’s worn coffee colored map of Tunisia hangs. In Honeymoon in ‘Algers’ fragments of the map come into view alongside her father’s passport photo and her mother’s regal studio pose. Draped across this composition are the fringes of the silk canopy that belonged to Maguy’s grandmother, and veiled the bride in Maguy – Max, 21 Janvier 1953. Today this family heirloom – and ancient Jewish symbol of home – serves as an elegant room divider in her salon. Au Revoir, Tunis.