Chaïbia Talal

I have examined the female Berber artist Chaïbia Talal to gain a perspective on what art and culture meant to her, not through the lens of Orientalism, but through her own unique lens as a “real” Indigenous woman of Morocco. I researched other Berber artists but chose Talal because she had no formal art training and was immersed in the Moroccan culture. Talal was born into humble beginnings in 1929 in a small village near El Jadida, on the coast of Morocco. She did not have money or education. Her art is characterized as Naive painting and Outsider Art (art brut), a genre of art that is very loose and almost childlike in its appearance.

Talal’s art depicts portraits and landscapes, giving us a glimpse into the world around her as she grew up as a Berber woman living in Morocco. Chaïbia Talal’s art seen below: Fig.8, Mon Village, Chtouka and Fig. 9, Femme à la prière. Fig.10, Blue Veiled Woman and Fig. 11, La Femme Bleu, 1967.