Organized by the National Foundation of Museums, this exhibition, the opening of which took place on Monday, in the presence of the wali of the Marrakech-Safi region, governor of the prefecture of Marrakech, Farid Chourak, and the president of the National Foundation of the Museums, Mehdi Qotbi, and an audience of artists and actors from the world of art and culture, highlights the famous “Harem” series of this renowned artist, which explores social constructions and complex histories surrounding the concept of the harem, a private space traditionally reserved for women in the Muslim world.
This fascinating collection produced in 2009 at the Dar El Bacha Palace invites you to discover a panoply of striking portraits of women adorned with caftans with elaborate patterns and covered with Arabic calligraphy traced with henna.
In her photographs, Lalla Essaydi presents women adorned in elaborately patterned caftans that interlock with the surrounding zellige tiles and carved woodwork, becoming another decorative element of the palace. Through her artistic gaze, she questions and reinterprets these social constructions to offer an intimate perspective on the lives and roles of women in these closed environments.
The artist also uses Arabic calligraphy, a practice dominated by men, to write on the faces, hands, and feet of women, using henna which represents a feminine tradition, in order to transcend social codes.
In a statement to MAP on this occasion, Mr. Qotbi was delighted to welcome this great artist and renowned photographer to this emblematic place of Dar El Bacha where she imagined and created these works around fifteen years ago. years, emphasizing that this collection “goes back through history and above all puts the spotlight back on both the photos and the place as a space steeped in history.”
“A place where we also showcase the artisanal culture that Morocco has had for centuries”, especially since Lalla Essaydi has the chance to appear in the world’s major museums, explained Mr. Qotbi.
For her part, Ms. Essaydi expressed all her joy at marking her return to Marrakech, and to the Musée des Confluences in particular, where she created all these works, explaining that her work is haunted by space, both real and metaphorical, memorized and constructed.
And to add that his photographs were born from a need to rediscover his identity and to immortalize real spaces, in particular those of his childhood.
“My work reflects my experience as a woman growing up in Moroccan and Muslim culture,” she said, noting that “it is the story of my quest for a voice, the unique voice of an artist.”
Lalla Essaydi, who currently lives between Morocco and the United States, holds an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/TUFTS University in Boston, where she began experimenting with photography, his current medium of choice.
His photographic works have been exhibited in major American cities such as Chicago, New York, Boston, but also in many countries such as England, France, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Azerbaijan , Singapore and others.
They are part of the national collections of Morocco, the Williams College Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Diego Museum of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Harvard Art Museum, the Louvre Museum, the British Museum, the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, the Bahrain National Museum, among others.
Essaydi’s art often fuses Arabic calligraphy with depictions of the female form, exploring the complex reality of the Arab woman’s identity through her personal experiences.
Much of her artistic experience reflects her childhood memories in Morocco, seen through the prism of an adult woman navigating the intersection of past and present. His work frequently draws on Orientalist imagery as depicted in Western artistic practice, thereby challenging the viewer’s eye to reconsider Orientalist narratives.
2024-10-01 03:31:42