A self-taught painter and nomadic soul, Annie Sène embodies an artistic expression deeply rooted in the diversity of her origins. Born in Paris of a rare mix — Senegalese through her adoptive father, Guadeloupean and Indian through her biological lineage — she grew up between continents, memories, and identities. As a teenager, she discovered Guadeloupe, her maternal homeland, and at the age of 20, she set out to explore her father’s native Senegal. Now based in Montreal, she weaves her roots into a powerful, intuitive, and profoundly human body of work.
“It was painting that came to find me,” she likes to say. In 1993, while copying Fragonard’s The Reader, she experienced her artistic awakening. For over fifteen years, she painted from photographs and portraits. Everything changed, however, when she joined the art association Quatre-AS. The positive feedback from her peers and her first exhibitions in Montreal encouraged her to embrace this calling fully.
