Fatma Charfi (1955–2018) was a Tunisian-Swiss artist whose multidisciplinary practice spanned installation, sculpture, performance, photography, video, drawing, and painting. Born in Sfax, Tunisia, she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Tunis before pursuing doctoral studies in aesthetics at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and further training at the Institut d’Art Visuel in Geneva.
Beginning in the late 1980s, Charfi developed the Abrouc (plural Aberics), a small hand twisted anthropomorphic figure that became the defining element of her artistic vocabulary. Across her body of work, these surrogate bodies enabled her to investigate systems of control and representation, the human condition under modernity, empathy, and collective responsibility, while continually expanding the formal possibilities of her practice. Her work was distinguished by its integration of handcrafted, embodied processes, seriality and repetition, an experimental engagement with materials, and participatory forms.
Living between Tunisia and Switzerland, Charfi exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Africa, and the United States. She participated in five editions of the Dak'Art Biennale (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2010), becoming the first woman and first Arab artist to receive its highest distinction, the Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor, in 2000. In 1999, she was awarded the Jury Prize at the Alexandria Biennale. Her work has been presented at institutions including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art St. Louis, the University of Colorado Art Museum, Kunsthalle Bern, the Zentrum Paul Klee, and numerous museums and galleries in Tunisia and Switzerland.
Her work occupies a significant place in the history of contemporary Tunisian art, particularly for its contributions to the development of installation, performance, and conceptual art practices. Her works are held in public collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Geneva Fonds cantonal d'art contemporain, the governments of Tunisia and Senegal, and the Lausanne University Hospital, as well as in numerous private collections across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the United States.