Relatively little systematic scholarly work has been done on African women qua artists in the contemporary global art community; less still on the role of religion in their work and lives. The experiences of women artists in Islamic cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa are by no means homogeneous – indeed, it is their very breadth that “assist[s] us in the process of shaping and comprehending the new discourse being created, without essentializing the work” (Hassan 1997, 3).

In the Sub-Saharan regions of West Africa where Islam has the greatest presence – in religious as well…