Signare #1, île de Gorée

Date2011

Maker Fabrice Monteiro Belgian, works in Senegal, born 1972

Label TextA Signare is a type of femme fatale who descends from the union of French administrators of the slave trade and Senegalese women in the 17th and 18th century. Such women cultivated a distinctive urban culture and calculated their seductive appearances. This woman is posed in a governor’s palace in Gorée, a site well known for its prominence in the slave trade. Mr. Monteiro was once a model himself, has Beninese and Belgian parents, and calls this “not a report but a reconstruction, remembering the Signares who have been absorbed into the modern world.”

Object number2013.14

ProvenanceThe artist; [M.I.A. Gallery, Seattle, Washington]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum with funds from African Art Council and African Art Acquisition Fund, 2013

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, M.I.A. Gallery, Jim Naughten and Fabrice Monteiro, Signares & Hereros, Aug. 1-30, 2013 Libreville, Gabon, Onomo visual art, Signares, Oct. 2012

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the African Art Council and African Art Acquisition Fund

Dimensions47 1/4 x 31 1/2 in. (120 x 80 cm)

MediumArchival digital print