"We were sheltered by God's spirits, who taught us to work with clay."
Seyni Awa Camara (c. 1945, Casamance, Senegal - 2026, Bignona) was one of the most singular sculptors of our time, known in her region as the Potter of Casamance. From her family compound in Bignona, she modelled unglazed terracotta figures ranging from thirty centimetres to over two metres: totemic maternities teeming with children, many-breasted bodies, hybrid beings dense with the animist imagery of her Jola culture and her own experience as a woman. Taught pottery by her mother, and heir by legend to a mysterious initiation in the forest, she fired her works in the open air and coated them with vegetal extracts. Revealed by "Magiciens de la Terre" (1989) and invited by Harald Szeemann to the 49th Venice Biennale (2001), she exhibited from the Fondation Louis Vuitton to the National Museum of Oslo, in dialogue with Louise Bourgeois. She takes part posthumously in the 61st Venice Biennale (2026).