Aïda Touré is a

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

ese

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, painter, and composer.

Biography

Touré was born in

to a Gabonese mother and a

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

an father, who was also

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. She later attended high school in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where she generated a distinct interest across the arts. In 1995, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to study music. During this creative journey, she felt pulled toward the practice of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

which was to have a profound impact on the nature of her creations. Sufism, the inner dimension of Islam, inspired her to produce poetic works of a spiritual nature. She released her first collection of Sufi poetry entitled ''Unmanifest Poems'' in 2000. In 2001, she published ''The Sublime Sphere''. This was followed up in 2003 by another collection of poems, ''Nocturnal Light''. In 2005, Touré professed to be overcome with images of ineffable beauty. This prompted her to take up painting to convert the spirituality in her poems into a visual landscape of beauty. She has referred to this artwork as ''Visual Sufi Poetry''. Touré exhibited her artwork in many of the major cities throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and back in her native Gabon. She has appeared in magazines internationally. Most of her paintings are owned privately, mainly in the US, France, Gabon, and

. In February 2015, Touré had her second exhibition in New York titled "Luminous Dark Matter" to celebrate Black History month In 2017 she was selected by OkayAfrica as a woman to watch. In 2018, she published a new poetry book titled "Cosmicity" In September 2021 she launched her own NFT portfolio and started selling her artworks as NFTs

References

External links

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Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toure, Aida Gabonese poets Gabonese painters Gabonese emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Gabonese women painters Gabonese women writers 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American painters Gabonese people of Malian descent American people of Gabonese descent 21st-century American women painters