Seni Awa CAMARA (1945) "Female acrobat", Toucouleur. Terracotta sculpture. H: +/- 20 cm. Note: Seyni Awa Camara (born around 1945, Bignona, Casamance, Senegal) Introduced to sculpture as a child by her potter mother, Seyni Awa Camara developed an intimate relationship with clay from an early age. With her twin brothers, she spent a mysterious retreat in the Casamance forest, which she describes as a divine initiation: "God's genies taught us to work the earth". For over thirty years, she has tirelessly modelled hybrid creatures - human, animal or fantastical - that reflect her dreams, revelations, fears and observations of the world. Some of her monumental sculptures are almost two metres high and populate her house and courtyard, transformed into a veritable theatre of objects. In his compositions, the deformed faces denounce indifference towards ancestors, while the swarming figures of children express humanity's flight and anxiety. Before creating, the artist collects herself with her talisman - an ox horn - and allows a universe to emerge where past and present come together. She defines her practice with these words in Wolof: "Damay science ma liguège" ("I think, I have an idea, I work"). Her works, born of a personal cosmogony, embody both the female condition in Casamance and a universal vision of existence. Public collections (selection) -The National Museum of Art Norway, Oslo, Norway -Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris, France -Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France -Fenix, The Netherlands