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Seyni Awa CAMARA Untitled (Elephant and lizard) - circa 2016…
See original version (French)
40
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Seyni Awa CAMARA Untitled (Elephant and lizard) - circa 2016…
See original version (French)
Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Seyni Awa CAMARA
Untitled (Elephant and lizard) - circa 2016 - 2017
Terracotta
55 x 20 x 39 cm
Terracotta
21.65 x 7.87 x 15.35 in.
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner
FR
Seyni Awa Camara creates terracotta figures that bear witness to the invisible and the supernatural. The artist grew up with his mother, herself a potter, who introduced him to sculpture as a child. According to legend, it was with her brothers that she disappeared into the forest for several months while still a child. After a few months, they reappeared, carrying terracotta statuettes in their arms.
Awa Camara produces because she needs to, rather than wants to. Having hardly ever left Bigona, her forest village in Senegal, Seyni Awa Camara moulds the earth and gives shape to stories, cosmogonies, feelings and events, whether dreamt or revealed. After discovering that it would be impossible for her to become a mother, she began to represent more women who were pregnant, or carrying multiple children or creatures on their backs. Awa Camara forms her sculptures, which can reach up to two metres in height, in the courtyard of her modest home and fires them in an impressive open-air pyre, giving birth to spiritually charged works.
Exhibited around the world, including at the Venice Biennale and the Centre Pompidou, Seyni Awa Camara's work can be found in the collections of the National Museum of Art Norway in Oslo, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and the Fenix Museum in Rotterdam.
EN
Seyni Awa Camara works with clay to shape figures that speak to the invisible and the supernatural. She grew up with her mother, a potter herself, who introduced her to sculpture at an early age. According to legend, Seyni and her brothers vanished into the forest as children for several months. When they returned, they were carrying clay figurines in their arms.
Awa Camara creates not out of desire, but out of necessity. Having spent nearly her entire life in Bigona, her forest village in Senegal, she uses clay to give form to stories, cosmogonies, emotions, and visions, whether dreamt or divinely revealed. After learning that she would not be able to have children, she began sculpting more pregnant women, often carrying multiple children or fantastical creatures on their backs. Her sculptures, some nearly two metres tall, are shaped in the courtyard of her modest home and fired in a large open-air kiln, resulting in deeply spiritual works.
Her art has been exhibited around the world, including at the Venice Biennale and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Her pieces are held in major public collections, such as the National Museum of Art Norway in Oslo, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and the Fenix Museum in Rotterdam.
Seyni Awa CAMARA
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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