Austin Peay State University welcomes internationally recognized artist Lalla Essaydi

Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University Department of Art and Design, with support from the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, will welcome internationally recognized artist Lalla Essaydi to campus for a visiting artist lecture at 7:00pm on Thursday, November 10th in Trahern 401.

Essaydi’s lecture will conclude the fall portion of the department’s Visiting Artist Speaker Series.

Essaydi grew up in Morocco and lived for many years in Saudi Arabia. She attended classes at l’ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and then received her B.F.A. from Tufts University in Massachusetts.

In 2003, she earned her M.F.A. from the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She currently works and resides in the United States and Morocco.

Her art, which often combines Islamic calligraphy with representations of the female form, addresses the complex reality of Arab female identity from the unique perspective of personal experience. Essaydi has presented her vision through numerous media, including painting, video, film, installation and analog photography.

“In my art, I wish to present myself through multiple lenses—as artist, as Moroccan, as traditionalist, as Liberal, as Muslim,” she said. “In short, I invite viewers to resist stereotypes.”

Essaydi’s work is represented by Schneider Gallery in Chicago, by Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, by Edwynn Hook Gallery in New York City and by October Gallery in London. Her work has been exhibited around the world and is represented in a number of collections, including The Louvre Museum, Paris, France; The British National Museum, London; The Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge; The RISD Museum of Art, Rhode Island; and The Art Institute of Chicago.

With support from the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, all Art and Design events are free and open to the public.

For more information on this lecture, contact Michael Dickins, gallery director, at dickinsm@apsu.edu.