Jill Galliéni

*1948, France

Jill Galliéni was born in France to an American mother; her father was an actor. However, she grew up far away from her parents and at the age of 7 she came under her father’s care.

She has always lived in Paris and always made distinctive cloth dolls. Her mental challenges became apparent at the age of 30 and her prayers helped her to become more stable. She wanted to write but could not stand the sight of her hand-written sentences. Hence she invented prayer sentences, repeated a hundred times, bound together like garlands. They are addressed to Saint Rita, the patron saint of the desperate. Her prayers relate to people, situations and herself. She uses black or coloured ink for her drawings.

Jill Galliéni’s work can be seen, for example, in the Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne and the LaM, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France. As of 2021, Jill Galliéni has also been represented in the 921 works of the “Donation d'Art Brut de Bruno Decharme” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Selected works