Lalla Essaydi

Lalla Essaydi (b. 1956, Marrakech, Morocco) is a Moroccan artist based in Boston and Marrakech who works in photography, painting and installation. Her subjects are Arab female identity, the representation of Muslim women, Orientalism and cross-cultural identity. She inscribes Arabic calligraphy in henna on women's bodies, clothing and surroundings, then photographs the staged scene. Each image combines painting, calligraphy, costume, interior design and stage directing, and the prints keep their uncropped film borders.

Raised in Morocco, Essaydi lived in Saudi Arabia and France before moving to the United States. She began making art only after her 1996 move from Saudi Arabia to the United States. Converging Territories (2002 to 2004) showed in Boston (2003) and at the Columbus Museum of Art (2005). Les Femmes du Maroc (2005 to 2007) restages Orientalist paintings by Ingres, Delacroix and Gérôme. Their colours are stripped out, the men removed, the nudes clothed and calligraphy added. Harem (2009) was photographed inside the Dar el Basha palace in Marrakech. Harem Revisited (2012 to 2013) uses antique Moroccan dresses lent by the Nour and Boubker Temli collection. Bullets (2009 to 2014) is made with silver and gold bullet casings.

Essaydi holds a BFA from Tufts University (1999). In Boston, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts awarded her an MFA, with Tufts, in 2003. Solo exhibitions include the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville (2008), and the Smithsonian African Museum of Art, Washington (2012). Others followed at the Museum of Modern Art, Baku (2013), and the Bahrain National Museum, Manama (2014). Group exhibitions include the Art Institute of Chicago (2008) and LACMA, Los Angeles (2015). Collections holding her work include the Louvre, Paris, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, LACMA and the Art Institute of Chicago. She is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.