Walid Tighiouart, known as TiG, is a self-taught Algerian painter born in Algiers in 1994. A civil engineer by training, he builds his canvases like construction sites: geometric fragments, often triangles, that tell the story of Algeria's cities, villages and people. Paintings that reveal themselves from a distance, where the whole matters more than the detail.
“My work interprets culture and memory through a language of lines, forms and matter. I build my works rather than simply drawing them, turning memories, landscapes and elements of heritage into contemporary compositions.”Walid Tighiouart
An immersion in an Algeria lived and felt: Bou Saâda, Ghardaïa, Sidi-Aïch, the M'Zab… 33 works between reality and interpretation, and more than 1,500 visitors.
A tribute to his hometown: the Casbah, women in the haïk, chaâbi music and the sea. Algiers the White and Algiers the Blue through his palette.
From 9 May to 4 June 2026, Villa Abd-el-Tif lived to the rhythm of the exhibition: opening night, a talk, workshops, a collective mural and a closing night. The story, told through the Instagram posts of TiG and the agency Le Trait Bleu.
Walid Tighiouart and the Algerian Agency for Cultural Outreach (AARC) invite you to the opening of “دزايرنا by TiG”: a contemporary reading of Algerian heritage, between art, memory and architecture. Saturday 9 May at 4 pm at Dar Abd-el-Tif, for an exhibition open until 30 May.
The trailer sets the tone: “Dzayerna is not just paintings, it is a story of emotions and memories, of colours and light that tell our country as I have lived and seen it.” Directed by Réda (@r3da.212), music by Emlee (@emleesmusic), art direction by Walid Benmohammed.
See also: the 9 May save the date
The preparations are complete. Only 24 hours left before opening the doors of Villa Abd-el-Tif and sharing the story of Dzayerna with the public.
More than 300 visitors gather around art, heritage and emotion, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Arts and the AARC.
From 2 to 4 pm, a dialogue between artistic perspectives, urban memory and the visual identity of heritage, with Med Larbi Merhoum (architect and urban planner), Azedine Tighiouart (architect specialising in railway infrastructure) and Jaoudet Gassouma (writer, journalist, visual artist and filmmaker). Moderated by Nabil Tighiouart.
See also: the invitation to the talk
Two weeks after the opening, more than 600 people have already seen the exhibition. The recap video also announces a surprise: a special evening to close this chapter.
Students from the Ré'création artistique school take ownership of TiG's world and reinterpret his canvases with their own brushes. A moment of transmission, made possible by the AARC and the Ministry of Culture and the Arts.
For Children's Day, TiG shares his world with extraordinary children with disabilities, who came to express their vision of the world on the walls of Dar Abd-el-Tif. A mural painted by dozens of hands, in complete freedom.
To celebrate the end of the exhibition, Dar Abd-el-Tif is transformed for one evening: three artists on stage, free entry on reservation, from 8 pm. “The bass resonated, and you showed up.” In total, more than 1,500 visitors discovered Dzayerna.
See also: the announcement of the evening · the save the date · the booking
“Dzayerna was just the beginning”: a limited-edition t-shirt and tote bag extend the exhibition, with delivery to all 58 wilayas (order by direct message to @letraitbleu.co).
From 25 January to 22 February 2025, the Ahmed and Rabah Asselah Cultural Foundation hosts TiG's first solo exhibition, with an event every Saturday: the opening, a film screening and debate, music and a reading. The story, told through TiG's posts and his “Alger” Instagram highlight.
TiG unveils the poster for “العاصمة Alger”, his first solo exhibition, shown from 25 January to 22 February 2025 at the Ahmed and Rabah Asselah Cultural Foundation. By way of invitation, an Algiers saying: “ مرحبا بالي جا وجاب والي ماجاب ماعليه جواب ”. On the eve of the opening: “D-1, everyone is welcome”, from 4 pm.
On Saturday, from 4 pm, the Asselah Foundation opens its doors. Visitors discover a city told in paint: the Casbah, women in the haïk, chaâbi, the sea, Algiers the White and Algiers the Blue. A few days later, TiG says thank you: “Alger العاصمة واجبتني. Thank you all.” Photos by @thndr.storm, art direction by Walid Benmohammed.
The press follows: the daily Al-Arab devotes an article to the exhibition on 27 January, then, on 2 February, El Watan runs the headline “Un plasticien qui monte !” (An artist on the rise!) by Farouk Baba-Hadji, and a second article, by Kheira Attouche, is titled “El-Beida, ma joie de vivre”.
Read: El Watan · Al-Arab · all press coverage
“Alger, ya l'3aziza…” The film thanks everyone who brought the exhibition to life and announces what comes next: a special programme every Saturday until 22 February. Directed by @thndr.storm, music by Emlee (@emleesmusic), art direction by Walid Benmohammed.
As part of the exhibition, the foundation screens the documentary “Alger, la Mecque des révolutionnaires” (Algiers, Mecca of Revolutionaries), followed by a debate moderated by Arezki Metref. The room is full, surrounded by the paintings.
At 5 pm, music settles among the paintings: Sabri and friends play the Algerian repertoire on oud, violin and guitar. At the microphone, voices follow one another, accompanied on violin by Rafik Maza.
On the last Saturday, the writer Samir Toumi gives a reading in front of the paintings. Among the visitors of the final days: Jan Czerny, the Czech Ambassador in Algiers. Then comes the take-down: “Alger العاصمة is coming to an end. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this beautiful exhibition, which will stay engraved in my heart forever.”
“Alger” paved the way: a year later, TiG presents “Dzayerna”, his second solo exhibition, at Villa Abd-el-Tif. The “Alger” catalogue, with the essay “Alger la Blanche, Alger la Bleue” by Gaya and Nabila Hamard, is still available as a PDF (in French).
Relive Dzayerna · “Alger” catalogue (PDF) · the essay by Gaya and Nabila Hamard
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Walid Tighiouart, known as TiG, was born on 1 September 1994 in Bologhine, Algiers, where he grew up. He has been drawing since the age of eight, a passion nurtured by his father, an architect by training: his eye for forms, structures and spaces gave him, very early on, a taste for composition and for constructing an image.
A self-taught painter since 2012, he has developed a practice grounded in experimentation, research and observation. Meeting the painter Mohammed Tahar Laraba, whose studio at Bois des Arcades he inherited, was a turning point. Holding a master's degree in civil engineering, he pursues both careers at once: his painting geometrises forms, neither quite cubist nor quite figurative, to bring out the “spirit” of places.
From childhood drawings to a language of his own: the milestones, as told by the artist in his portfolio.
Drawing soon becomes a space for observation and expression. Growing up alongside an architect father sharpens his eye for forms, structures and perspective. “I don't just draw: I build the work, thinking through its forms, its balance and its space.”
After the years of drawing, painting becomes a field for personal experimentation. Self-taught, he explores forms, colours and compositions through extensive research, in search of a way of painting that conveys his own vision.
Meeting the Algerian painter marks a decisive step. Alongside him, he deepens his knowledge of classical painting and gains mastery of colour. An experience that enriches his self-taught path and feeds the construction of his pictorial language.
He begins to go beyond what he has learned, to experiment with it, transform it and reinterpret it. A period of transition in which the legacy becomes the raw material from which his artistic identity is built.
In 2025, at the Ahmed and Rabah Asselah Foundation, a selection of works devoted to his city: its architecture, its landscapes, its people and its traditions. The fruit of long research and introspection, and the desire to share his own way of seeing Algiers.
His second solo exhibition, shown in May 2026 in the historic setting of Villa Abd-el-Tif. Through memories, encounters and imagination, he revisits Algeria through scenes of daily life, architecture, traditions and symbols: a personal and plural vision, between heritage and modernity.
The catalogues of both solo exhibitions, with all the works and the critics' essays, to read online or download (in French).
Solo exhibition at Villa Abdellatif, Algiers, 9 – 30 May 2026.
First solo exhibition at the Ahmed and Rabah Asselah Cultural Foundation, 25 January – 22 February 2025.
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