Signare #1, île de Gorée

Signare #1, île de Gorée

2011

Fabrice Monteiro

Belgian, works in Senegal, born 1972

A 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.”

Archival digital print
47 1/4 x 31 1/2 in. (120 x 80 cm)
Purchased with funds from the African Art Council and African Art Acquisition Fund
2013.14
Provenance: The 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
location
Not currently on view

Resources

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

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