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Enora Lalet is doing an artistic residency at Alliance Française de Banjul from January 6 to February 6, 2025. Known for her series “Cooked Portraits”, where she uses food as her primary material, Enora collaborates with Gambian photographer Lena Nian to create 5 to 6 new portraits featuring Gambian women. This series is the result of 14 years of meticulous work, exploring the connections between gastronomy, the body, and visual art.
Moreover, through her residencies abroad in New Delhi, Java, Nouméa, Colombia, Indonesia, and Stockholm, Enora has enriched her artistic approach by integrating local traditional knowledge into her creations. In Banjul, she is committed to capturing the cultural essence of The Gambia through her ephemeral and evocative works.
BATUTA DGINGNOR – THE EXHIBITION BY ENORA LALET
During her residency at the Alliance Française de Banjul, Enora Lalet presented Batuta Dgingnor, an exhibition that explores the magic of cultures and the uniqueness of Gambian traditions.
Batuta Dgingnor, which means “Magic Dolls” in Mandinka, honors a community of women who have deeply inspired the artist: the Kenyeleng. These women, who have not had children, create a society within a society where they are reborn with a new name and status, becoming medicine women. Surrounded by fertility rituals, they craft symbolic objects from beads, fabrics, and shells, including dolls that they dress and nourish.
Enora also explored the world of medicinal foods, precious knowledge passed down by women, and protective elements such as magic beans, cowrie shells, and plants with spiritual virtues. Moringa, sépa, wonjo, baobab, and local seeds are integrated into her compositions, beautifully captured by the lens of photographer Lena Nian, who documented this artistic fusion throughout the month of January.
This project is funded by the French Embassy in Senegal and The Gambia and implemented by the Alliance as part of the “We Together for Women’s Empowerment” project: promoting women’s expression through arts, culture, debate, and entrepreneurship.
To learn more, visit the artist’s pages by clicking here and here.
Below is a video presentation featuring Enora Lalet, created during her residency.