is a self-taught visual artist whose work explores African hair practices as carriers of memory, storytelling, and cultural transmission. Through analog photography, photobooth, self-portraits, braiding, textile work, and at times installation, she develops a body of work where hair becomes a visual and political language in its own right.
Her practice began as an intimate gesture during a period of depression, when styling her hair and photographing herself became an act of personal healing. This daily ritual has since evolved into a demanding artistic process in which she documents herself as a diasporic subject and living archive.
Her artworks present traditional African hairstyles — worn, reinterpreted, and photographed in a contemporary context. They question the marginal status often assigned to these gestures, perceived as purely aesthetic or ordinary, when in fact they carry profound cultural, historical, and embodied significance.
Marianne Costade’s work sits at the intersection of portraiture, heritage, and political gesture. It has been featured in SYNTHESIS, a magazine curated by Youssouf Fofana, and contributes to a generation of artists reclaiming Black presence within contemporary narratives.