Lalla Essaydi

Essaydi was born in Marrakesh, Morocco in 1956. She left to attend high school in Paris at 16. She married after returning to Morocco and moved to Saudi Arabia where she had two children and divorced. Essaydi returned to Paris in the early 1990s to attend the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=DeNeen|title=Challenging the fantasies of the harem|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/exhibits/lalla-essaydi-revisions,1222308.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155455/http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/exhibits/lalla-essaydi-revisions,1222308.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 2, 2015|newspaper=Washington Post|date=May 6, 2012}} She moved to Boston in 1996 and earned her BFA from Tufts University in 1999 and her MFA in painting and photography from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2003.{{cite web|title=Lalla Essaydi|url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/lalla_essaydi.php|website=brooklynmuseum.org|publisher=Brooklyn Museum|accessdate=21 February 2015}}

File:Bullets Revisited -3.jpg, Washington, D.C.]]

Influenced by her experiences growing up in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, Essaydi explores the ways that gender and power are inscribed on Muslim women's bodies and the spaces they inhabit. She has stated that her work is autobiographical{{cite web |date=20 May 2012 |others=As told to Tina Sutton |title=Lalla Essaydi on Boston's art scene |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2012/05/19/lalla-essaydi-boston-art-scene/sB70S18GJaAF9bfcFK44qI/story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726003500/https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2012/05/19/lalla-essaydi-boston-art-scene/sB70S18GJaAF9bfcFK44qI/story.html |archive-date=26 July 2012 |accessdate=9 March 2015 |website=The Boston Globe}} and that she was inspired by the differences she perceived in women's lives in the United States versus in Morocco, in terms of freedom and identity.{{cite web | url=http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/05-31-2012_lalla-essaydi-recipient-of-smfa-2012-medal-award.htm | title=Lalla Essaydi SMFA 2012 Award Recipient Dispels Orientalists Western Prejudices | work=Berkshire Fine Arts | date=31 May 2012 | accessdate=9 March 2015 | author=Nassar, Nelida}} She explores a wide range of perspectives, including issues of diaspora, identity, and expected location through her studio practice in Boston.{{Cite book|title=Contemporary Art in the Middle East|editor-first=Nadine |editor-last=Monem|publisher=Black Dog Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-1-906155-56-8|location=London|series=Artworld|pages=78}} The inspiration for many of her works came from her childhood, in the physical space where she, as a young woman, was sent when she disobeyed. She stepped outside the permissible behavioral space, as defined by Moroccan culture.{{Cite journal|last=Waterhouse|first=Ray|date=2009|title=Lalla Essaydi: An Interview|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/422813/summary|journal=Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art|language=en|volume=24|issue=1|pages=144–149|doi=10.1215/10757163-24-1-144 |s2cid=194072835 |issn=2152-7792}} Essaydi said her works will become haunted by spaces she inhabited as a child.{{Cite news|last=Brown|first=DeNeen|date=2012-05-05|title=Artist Lalla Essaydi challenges stereotypes of women in Islamic cultures|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/artist-lalla-essaydi-challenges-stereotypes-of-women-in-islamic-cultures/2012/05/03/gIQA04oY1T_story.html|access-date=2021-05-05|issn=0190-8286}}

Several pieces of her work (including Converging Territories) combine henna, which is traditionally used to decorate the hands and feet of brides, with Arabic calligraphy, a predominantly male practice. While she uses henna to apply calligraphy to her female subjects' bodies, the words are indecipherable in an attempt to question authority and meaning.{{cite web | url=http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5569/artistic-depictions-of-arab-women_an-interview-wit | title=Artistic Depictions of Arab Women: An Interview with Artist Lalla Essaydi | work=Jadaliyya | date=16 May 2012 | accessdate=9 March 2015 | author=Errazzouki, Samia}}

The women depicted in her exhibition of photographs, Les Femmes du Maroc, are represented as decorative and confined by the art of henna.{{Cite book|title=Converging Territories|last=Essaydi|first=Lalla|publisher=PowerHouse Books|year=2005|isbn=9781576872567|location=New York|pages=26–29}} Essaydi thus poses her subjects in a way that exemplifies society's views of women as primarily destined for mere beauty. Henna, however, is extremely symbolic, especially to Moroccan women. It is an association with familial celebrations of a young girl reaching puberty and transitioning into a mature woman. The use of henna in her work creates a silent atmosphere of the women "speaking" to each other through a quality of femininity. It is predominantly a painting process where women who are discouraged to work outside the home find a profitable work in applying a tattoo-like material. Beyond creating powerful pieces revolving around the art of henna, Essaydi includes interpretations of traditional Moroccan elements, including draped folds of cloths adorning women's bodies, mosaic, tiles, and Islamic architecture.{{Cite journal|jstor=43487469|title=In Search of Beauty in Space: Interview with Lalla Essaydi|last=Rocca|first=Anna|journal=Dalhousie French Studies |volume=103|date=Fall 2014|issue=Women from the Maghreb: Looking Back and Moving Forward|pages=119–127|language=en}}

Initiated in the early 2000s, Essaydi's photographic series Converging Territories captures women dressed in white, covered in Arabic calligraphy written with henna, positioned within traditional Moroccan domestic spaces. As Islamic calligraphy was typically only taught to men, Essaydi, a self taught calligrapher, portrayed this writing on her subjects to embrace the gender roles of her cultural heritage.{{Cite web |title=Art Through Time: A Global View |url=https://www.learner.org/series/art-through-time-a-global-view/conflict-and-resistance/converging-territories-30/ |access-date=24 May 2023 |website=Annenberg Learner}} The scenes portrayed are a distinct form of resistance, allowing the women depicted to claim the spaces as their own and rewrite the narratives of their lived experiences.{{Citation |last=Brielmaier |first=Isolde |title=14. Reinventing the Spaces Within: The Early Images of Artist Lalla Essaydi |date=2019-09-12 |url=http://books.openedition.org/obp/8005 |work=Women and Migration : Responses in Art and History |pages=161–166 |editor-last=Toscano |editor-first=Ellyn |access-date=2023-05-24 |series=OBP collection |place=Cambridge |publisher=Open Book Publishers |language=en |isbn=979-10-365-3807-0 |editor2-last=Willis |editor2-first=Deborah |editor3-last=Brooks Nelson |editor3-first=Kalia}} Essaydi's meticulous process involves hours of hand-painting the henna calligraphy on her subjects and their environments.{{Cite journal |last=Essayai |first=Lalla A. |date=March 1, 2013 |title=Disrupting the Odalisque |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/once-over/disrupting-odalisque-exchange-between-emily-johnson-lalla-essaydi |journal=World Literature Today |pages=62–67 |via=EBSCOhost}} The resulting images in "Converging Territories" are a critique of the patriarchal structures while celebrating the strength and resilience of Arab women.{{Cite web |title=Lalla Essaydi: Converging Territories, January 6 - February 25, 2006 |url=https://www.jacksonfineart.com/exhibitions/128-lalla-essaydi-converging-territories/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Jackson Fine Art |language=en}} Converging Territories has been exhibited at the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Joel Soroka Gallery, the Anya Tish Gallery, Jackson Fine Art, the Lisa Sette Gallery, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Howard Yezerski Gallery, and the Laurence Miller Gallery. {{Cite web |title=LALLA ESSAYDI |url=http://lallaessaydi.com/2.html |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=lallaessaydi.com}}

Her work has been exhibited at the National Museum of African Art.{{cite web|last1=Cheers|first1=Imani M.|date=May 9, 2012|title=Q&A: Lalla Essaydi Challenges Muslim, Gender Stereotypes at Museum of African Art|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/revisions/|publisher=PBS NewsHour}}{{Cite web |title=Lalla Essaydi Revisions: Introduction |url=https://africa.si.edu/exhibits/revisions/index.html |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=National Museum of African Art}} In 2015, the San Diego Museum of Art mounted the exhibition, Lalla Essaydi: Photographs.{{cite web|author=Chute, James|date=1 July 2015|title=Making eye contact|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jul/01/san-diego-museum-of-art-lalla-essaydi/|work=The San Diego Union Tribune|accessdate=3 February 2016}} Essaydi's work was featured in the 2017 exhibition, Revival, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, DC.{{Cite web |date=July 25, 2017 |title=Returning the Gaze: Lalla Essaydi |url=https://nmwa.org/blog/nmwa-exhibitions/returning-the-gaze-lalla-essaydi/ |access-date=March 25, 2023 |website=National Museum of Women in the Arts}}

Her work is represented in a number of collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago;{{Cite web |date=1956 |title=Lalla Assia Essaydi |url=https://www.artic.edu/artists/102392/lalla-assia-essaydi |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=The Art Institute of Chicago |language=en}} the Museum Five Continents;{{Cite web |title=Sammlung Südwestasien und Nordafrika |url=https://www.museum-fuenf-kontinente.de/forschung/sammlung-s%C3%BCdwestasien-und-nordafrika/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=Museum Fünf Kontinente |language=de}} the San Diego Museum of Art;{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} the Cornell Fine Arts Museum,{{cite web|title=The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College|url=http://www.rollins.edu/cornell-fine-arts-museum/collection/alfond-collection.html|accessdate=March 9, 2015}} Winter Park, Florida; the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;{{Cite web |title=Converging Territories #29 |url=https://collections.mfa.org/objects/469927/converging-territories-29 |website=MFA Boston}} the National Museum of Women in the Arts; and the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Massachusetts.{{cite book|editor-last1=Goodman|editor-first1=Abigail Ross|title=Art for Rollins: the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art.|date=2013|publisher=Cornell Fine Arts Museum|isbn=978-0-9792280-2-5|location=Winter Park, Fla.}}

She was named as #18 in Charchub's "Top 20 Contemporary Middle Eastern Artists in 2012-2014".{{cite web|last1=Ehsani|first1=Ehsan|last2=Rokhsari|first2=Hossein|title=Middle Eastern Titans: Top 20 Contemporary Middle Eastern Artists in 2012-2014|url=http://www.charchub.com/titans/|website=Charchub|accessdate=7 February 2015}}

In 2012 she received a Medal Award from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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• {{Official website|lallaessaydi.com}}

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:École des Beaux-Arts alumni

Category:Moroccan photographers

Category:Moroccan women photographers

Category:School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni

Category:Tufts University alumni

Category:21st-century photographers

Category:21st-century Moroccan artists

Category:Moroccan women artists

Category:People from Marrakesh