by HANNAH BOUATTIA
The legacy of the world-renowned African artist, whose work symbolised liberation, is still marked by colonialism. It must be reclaimed and celebrated by her own people
The much-celebrated Algerian artist Baya recently returned to centre stage of the art world through an exhibition of her paintings at L’Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris.
Almost 25 years after the death of an icon whose work transports you to a dazzling realm of (strictly) women, nature and emancipation – illuminated by bright colours – lively conversations about her impact continue.
An important question that continually arises is how the orientalist gaze shaped western reception to her chefs-d’oeuvre. When the background on which her masterpieces are hung is the not-so-blank and neutral Arab World Institute, it is perhaps unsurprising.
The institution, established by former French presidents, is now headed by a former minister and supporter of Israeli normalisation, Jack Lang, who not too long ago called hundreds of Arab intellectuals, artists, famous directors and public figures “sheep” for opposing the institute’s relationship with Israel.
Indeed, in a month that marks Unesco’s World Art Day, Baya’s story reminds us that, for many artists across the Global South who were “discovered” under colonialism, their legacy is still marked by the period. Where their work is exhibited therefore continues to be a highly political matter.
An overlooked ‘queen’
Baya Mahieddine, born Fatma Haddad in 1931 in Algiers, was encouraged to express her creativity by her adoptive mother, Marguerite Caminat, a settler during France’s colonisation of Algeria, who was herself an artist.
Through her art, Baya possessed the power to translate her desired reality. She used gouache (an opaque watercolour) as her primary medium, and she depicted a world without men, full of vivid images of lush natural landscapes inhabited by richly dressed women.
Many of her works included red-lipped, smiling women in colourful clothes, adorned with classic Maghrebi motifs, which feel like an ode to the bright, patterned Kabyle dresses that women in the region wear to this day.
The flowers and fruit present a sense of joy and abundance. The birds and other animals she featured embrace a wild and flourishing nature that defined many of her paintings. In this untethered world, a female figure is foregrounded – one who is as determined and independent as the young Baya herself.
It was clear from early in her creative journey that Baya’s art could not be contained and needed to be seen by the world. She was catapulted onto the Parisian art scene as a teenager in 1947 – just shy of 16 years old – when an exhibition showcasing her art opened in a gallery in Paris.
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