The exhibition ‘Giants’ by the artist Maïmouna Guerresi arrives in Tarifa with the African Film Festival



A total of five large-format photographs will dress the exterior facade of the Alameda Theater from May 27 to September 7

The exhibition ‘Gigantes’ by Maïmouna Guerresi will dress the facade of the Alameda Theater in Tarifa for 4 months with five large-format photographs that represent all the strength and beauty of Africa beyond Western prejudices and fears. It is the first time that the work of this multimedia artist of Italian-Senegalese origin has been exhibited in Andalusia, hand in hand with this show that has made her internationally famous.

‘Gigantes’ is part of the programming of the 19th edition of the African Film Festival-FCAT, the main event in the Spanish-speaking world dedicated to film production from Africa and its diasporas. ‘Giants’, which will be exhibited between May 27 and September 7, it is sponsored and produced by Grupo Absolute, an agency specializing in 390º communication experiences that advocates for the dissemination of culture and creativity in any field and format.

The exhibition is made up of five photographs reproduced on 5×3 meter panels that encourage union with the absolute through towering minarets and moving colossus-figures. The figures reveal only the face, while the body is absent, instead creating the illusion of a dark and infinite void. The dresses are the artist’s own creation and endow the figures with sculptural forms with a metaphysical and surreal appearance that can be interpreted as the divine mystery that exists in each one of us.

Maïmouna Guerresi’s work explores cultural diversity and human spirituality through the encounter between metaphor and reality, an artistic expression that promotes intercultural dialogue based on the representation of various aspects of Muslim spirituality and a plural vision of Islam. In the case of female figures, the artist seeks to affirm the spiritual value of Muslim women both in Islamic society and in the West to highlight their social and cultural qualities.

‘Giants’ is inspired by the work of the Italian Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca and the contemporary Lucio Fontana, although above all a great influence of Islamic miniatures and African Muslim art is appreciated.

Maimouna Guerresi

Maïmouna Guerresi is a multimedia artist who works with photography, sculpture, video and installation. Born in Italy into a religious Catholic family, she converted to Islam with a strong Sufi orientation in 1991. Her work presents an intimate perspective on the spirituality of human beings and its relation to her inner mystical dimension. .

Guerresi has exhibited in prominent institutions such as the Venice Biennale; the Mudima Foundation of Milan; the Rocca Museum of Umbertide; the Contemporary Museum III in Atlanta; the Filatoio Museum of Caraglio; Les Rencontres de Bamako; the KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki; the Ariosti Bevilacqua Palace in India; the National Design Institute of Ahmedabad, among others.

Likewise, his work is included in private and public collections around the world, including the Boghossian Foundation (Bruxelles, Belgium); the Museum of Contemporary Art Palazzo della Ragione (Verona, Italy); the European Investment Bank (Luxembourg); the Museum of Maps (Bangalore, India); the MIA Institute of Art (Minneapolis, USA); the Alianzas Foundation (Casablanca, Morocco); the Cultural Institute of Islam (Paris, France); the Paul G. Allen Private Art Collection (Seattle, WA, USA); the LACMA Museum (Los Angeles, USA); the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (WA, USA); the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation (Seattle, WA, USA) or the Hood Museum of Art (Daitmouth Hanover, NH, USA).

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The exhibition ‘Giants’ by the artist Maïmouna Guerresi arrives in Tarifa with the African Film Festival