Interview with MAIMOUNA GUERRESI:

Your childhood ambition:

My desire when I was young was to become an artist, and to experiment with many techniques from sculpture to photography—what I then did when I grew up.

Something you treasure:

The search for the “philosopher’s stone” … and the knowledge of the inner world.

Your worst habit:

I’m impatient, especially with regard to trivial things.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Through my work I would like to communicate moods and reflections on one’s own existence, and on the idea of an identity in constant renewal. For me, art is the breath and the voice of the human spirit, it allows you to externalize your inner life but it is also a means to spread and support your own social and political vision. Art is a stimulus and drive that serves for the survival of the psyche that becomes a bridge between soul and body.

Your first job:

After completing my academic studies, I immediately became interested in photography. My first works were part of the artistic context of body art, I was looking for a cosmic contact with nature, I was the main subject. I was confronted with the plant world and with figures from classical mythology, such as Daphne and Apollo. Taking inspiration from the statue of Bernini. Later my research was extended to other themes where the body becomes a container and temple of the soul.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

I recommend to appreciate and respect but even venerate the intuition and vision in the works of women artists and let yourself be enveloped and penetrated by the feminine essence without fear.

See more of Maïmouna Guerresi’s work here.