FEMALE FIGURES OF AFRICA

The work of three artists – Baya Mahieddine, Chaïbia Talal and Seyni Awa Camara – is an affirmation of womanhood as well as a reflection of their personal suffering

Three self-taught artists from Africa – Baya Mahieddine, Chaïbia Talal and Seyni Awa Camara – all spontaneously put on paper, or modelled in clay, figures inspired by dreams, fantasies or divine revelation. Each, in her own way, invented an intimate and original universe, created from a personal perspective. Carnal or abstract, the female body was the focus of all their attention.

Chaïbia Talal, 1981; CNAP

Mahieddine, Talal and Camara gave free rein to their imaginations, finding within themselves an abundance of creative capacity and disassociating themselves from tradition and custom. The premonitory dream or the divine injunction at the source of Talal’s and Camara’s works may have functioned as permission or authorisation, allowing the artists access to the process of creation, rarely granted to women from their countries and backgrounds, and exonerating them for taking a path historically reserved for men. Meanwhile, for Mahieddine, the strength and courage to explore her creativity came from the support and guardianship of another woman.

2006, 14.5 x 41.5 x 10 in. / 36.5 x 106 x 26 cm; The Jean Pigozzi Collection of African Art 2006, 15 x 53.5 x 11 in. / 37.5 x 136.5 x 27.5 cm; The Jean Pigozzi Collection of African Art Grandfather in a Hat, 2022, 17.5 x 44 x 14 in. / 45 x 112 x 35 cm; Galerie Corcha

Omnipresent in all three artists’ productions, the female body is metamorphosed, fantasised, reinvented with pleasure, imposing its existence. Given the social and cultural context of the mid- twentieth century, when these works emerged – a time marked by an oppressive and coercive patriarchy in the home countries of these women – it is important to underline the transgressive and emancipating dimension of their creative activity.