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| Born in Morocco 1956, Lalla Essaydi studied Painting in L݃cole Des Beaux Arts, Paris then received an MFA in Photography and Installation from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University in 2003. She now lives between Morocco and the USA.
Essaydi is represented by several American and international galleries and her artwork have also been exhibited around the world. Her art, which often combines Arabic calligraphy with representations of the female body, addresses the complex reality of Arab female identity from the unique perspective of personal experience. In much of her work, she returns to her Moroccan girlhood, looking back on it as an adult woman caught somewhere between past and present. As an artist, she also explores the language in which to “speak” from this uncertain space. Her paintings often appropriate Orientalist imagery from the Western painting tradition, thereby inviting viewers to reconsider the Orientalist mythology. She has practices through numerous media, including painting, video, film, installation, and analog photography. «In my art, I wish to present myself through multiple lenses -- as artist, as Moroccan, as Saudi, as traditionalist, as Liberal, as Muslim. In short, I invite viewers to resist stereotypes.» |