Fatma Charfi

About Fatma Charfi:

Fatma Charfi (1955–2018) was a Tunisian-Swiss artist whose multidisciplinary practice spanned installation, sculpture, performance, photography, video, drawing, and painting. Born in Sfax, Tunisia, she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Tunis before pursuing doctoral studies in aesthetics at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and further training at the Institut d’Art Visuel in Geneva.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Charfi developed the Abrouc (plural Aberics), a small hand-twisted anthropomorphic figure that became the defining element of her artistic vocabulary. Reappearing across multiple bodies of work, these surrogate figures allowed her to probe questions of power, representation, vulnerability, and the human condition, while reflecting on empathy and collective responsibility. Conceptually rigorous yet deeply invested in the materiality of making, her practice combined handcrafted and embodied processes, repetition, experimental uses of diverse media, and performative strategies.

Living between Tunisia and Switzerland, Charfi exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Africa, and the United States. She participated in five editions of the Dak'Art Biennale (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2010), becoming the first woman and first Arab artist to receive its highest distinction, the Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor, in 2000. In 1999, she was awarded the Jury Prize at the Alexandria Biennale. Her work has been presented at institutions including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art St. Louis, the University of Colorado Art Museum, Kunsthalle Bern, the Zentrum Paul Klee, the Ford Foundation Gallery, and numerous museums and galleries in Tunisia and Switzerland.

Her work occupies a significant place in the history of contemporary Tunisian art, particularly for its contributions to the development of installation, performance, and conceptual art practices. Her works are held in public collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Geneva Fonds cantonal d'art contemporain, the governments of Tunisia and Senegal, and the Lausanne University Hospital, as well as in numerous private collections across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the United States.