Elsa Sahal

Elsa Sahal (b. 1975)  is a Paris born and based sculptor, best known for her biomorphic ceramics. Her work challenges the objectification of the female body as she upends notions of the masculine and feminine, the erotic and abject, and the representational and abstract. Her abstract and grotesque use of form forces viewers to question why women’s bodies are expected to become and remain available sexual and maternal vessels. Her choice of clay as a medium is an intentional once as it easily melds and shifts to create skin like textures. At the end of her production process, the sculptures are fired and revived with the use of enamels to further this sentiment. 

She received her training at the National School of Fine Arts, Paris in 2000. She is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies, including the Georges Coulon Prize for Sculpture, awarded by the Institute de France (2013) and the National Manufactory of Sévres (2007-08). She has taught at the National School of ENSAV, Versailles, the School of Decorative Arts of Strasbourg, and Alfred University. Sahal has also shown extensively both nationally and internationally, including the Museum of Art and Design, New York (2013), the National Museum of Women in the arts, Washington DC (2018) the Bonnenfantenmuseum (2016), Maastricht and the Monnaie de Paris (2017), Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris (2021).