The Divine Theatre of Seyni Awa Camara

6 Oct-17 Nov 2024

Seyni Awa Camara, Untitled, 2010, terracotta. Credit: Image courtesy The Gallery of Everything

Overview

Seyni Awa Camara (b 1945, Senegal) is an octogenarian African sculptor, whose mystical healing figures speak of motherhood, magic and the forest spirits.

Born into a family of artisans, Camara was introduced to the use of clay by her mother. Her inclusion in Jean Hubert Martin’s Les Magiciens de la terre (1989) at Centre Pompidou (Paris) brought international acclaim. Subsequent exhibitions included Harald Szeemann’s Plateau dell’Umanità (Plateau of Humankind) at the 49th Venice Biennale (2001).

Camara’s terracotta oeuvre features in numerous museum collections, notably Tate Modern (London), Musée du quai Branly (Paris) and National Museum (Oslo).

During Frieze week, The Gallery of Everything presents a selection of historic and contemporary sculptures by Seyni Awa Camara in her first solo exhibition in the UK.

Artists