GREENSBORO, NC.- The Weatherspoon Art Museum brings the work of contemporary artist Lalla Essaydi to the campus of UNC Greensboro this winter and spring. The exhibition Lalla Essaydi: Falk Visiting Artist runs January 20 through May 25, 2024, and the artist will give a public talk at the museum on April 4.

Lalla Essaydi grew up in Morocco, studied in France, raised her children in Saudi Arabia, and now lives in the United States. Her art draws upon these varied cultural contexts and personal experiences to address the complex realities of contemporary Arab female lives. This exhibition features work from three of Essaydi’s compelling photographic series in which she grapples with the historical Western painting tradition of Orientalism and the ways it contributed to misconceptions about Arab women, as well as what it means today.

In each of her images, Essaydi stages female subjects in carefully selected environments including her family home in Morocco, her Boston studio, and a historic Moroccan palace. The women’s poses reference those of the imagined figures in Orientalist paintings while at the same time claiming their own space in the present. Essaydi covers the figures in Arabic calligraphy, which is associated with men, but applies it with henna, which is associated with women. Through these carefully constructed layerings of past and present, East and West, male and female, she encourages us to disrupt singular interpretations of people or history and instead seek more complicated understandings.

Dr. Emily Stamey, the museum’s Elizabeth McIver Weatherspoon Curator of Academic Programs and Head of Exhibitions, notes, “Essaydi’s work offers a wealth of compelling connection points for visitors with different interests. We are so excited for the rich conversations to come as students from fields as diverse as art history and psychology, religious studies and global studies, Arabic and English engage with her images over the course of the semester.”

The Falk Visiting Artist program is a partnership between the Weatherspoon and UNCG’s School of Art. In conjunction with her exhibition, Lalla Essaydi will give an artist talk sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Art’s University Concert and Lecture Series on Thursday, April 4, at 4:30 pm in the museum’s Benjamin Auditorium.

Organized by Dr. Emily Stamey, Elizabeth McIver Weatherspoon Curator of Academic Programs and Head of Exhibitions. This exhibition is presented in partnership with UNC Greensboro's Falk Visiting Artist program in the School of Art.