Senegalese sculptor Seyni Awa Camara dies at 81

Seyni Awa Camara, a Senegalese sculptor known for her totemic ceramic works, has died. Born in Bignona, Senegal, she learned traditional pottery from her mother before shifting to artistic practice. Her unglazed clay sculptures, often featuring multiple heads or gargoyles, drew on legends and observation. She described her creative guidance as 'gifts' from God's spirits. Camara gained international recognition after curator Jean-Hubert Martin included her in the landmark 1989 exhibition 'Magiciens de la Terre' at the Centre Pompidou and Halle de la Villette, Paris. She later participated in Harald Szeemann's 2001 Venice Biennale, '100% Africa' at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 2007, 'Art/Afrique, Le nouvel atelier' at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris in 2017, and 'Alpha Crucis – Contemporary African Art' at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo in 2020. Painter Michael Armitage, who featured her work in his 2022 exhibition at White Cube, London, described the experience of seeing her sculptures as akin to meeting a voiceless spirit. Camara was born in 1945 and died in 2026.