Femmes artistes, autodidactes, affranchies : Trajectoires, récits et enjeux institutionnels

In conjunction with the exhibition _Singuli%E8res: Artists, Self-Taught, Emancipated_ on view at the LaM (October 3, 2026 – February 14, 2027), these two days focus on women artists, **those who have created on the fringes**, outside traditional art circuits, or whose work has been sidelined by art history. They provide an opportunity **to explore life paths marked by various forms of marginalization** (social, cultural, geographic, or gender-based), whether these artists are anonymous, self-taught artists, those associated with *art brut*, or those whose practices and trajectories have fallen outside the usual frameworks of recognition.%A0 By moving beyond the opposition between center and periphery, this conference aims to explore what connects these diverse experiences and to examine the often-complex relationships **between women artists and forms of exclusion**. In particular, the focus will be on examining production contexts situated outside the “legitimate” frameworks of art, situations of marginalization—psychiatric, social, geographic, among others— as well as the practices and unconventional means through which certain works were able to come into being and circulate. These sessions will also provide an opportunity **to examine the role and responsibility of institutions** in the recognition, exhibition, and transmission of these works. How can we bring to light trajectories that have long been sidelined without confining them to new categories? How can we transmit these works without ignoring the contexts, tensions, and power dynamics that have shaped their history? The aim will thus be to reflectthe ways in which institutions can contribute to evolving the narratives of art, while remaining attentive to the plurality and singularity of these trajectories. _%C0 At a time when museums are questioning their practices, their narratives, and their approaches to embracing diversity, the LaM is offering a series of events dedicated to the complex and sometimes paradoxical relationships between artistic forms produced outside established art frameworks and the institutions that recognize and exhibit them. At the intersection of art brut, modern, and contemporary art, the LaM’s collections provide a prime setting for examining these processes of recognition and the categories that accompany them, in keeping with the history of a museum dedicated to singularities. These study days are part of a long-term initiative led by the LaM, following in the footsteps of the “Droit au brut” symposium held in December 2025._ **Steering Committee**%A0 Geneviève Fraisse – philosopher, emeritus research director at CNRS/CRAL – EHESS Sébastien Faucon – Director, LaM%A0 Jeanne-Bathilde Lacourt – Chief Curator, Head of the Conservation Department, LaM%A0 Grégory Prangé – Head of the Forward-Looking Program, Publications, and Research, LaM Christophe Boulanger – Curatorial Associate in charge of Art Brut, LaM