Katoucha Niane

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The cover of Katoucha Niane's 2007 book, "Dans ma chair".

Katoucha Niane (30 December 1960 in Conakry, Guinea – 2 February 2008 in Paris, France) was a French supermodel—one of the world's first to have come from Africa. Nicknamed "The Peul Princess" (in reference to her ethnic Fula background), she worked, and later wrote, under the single name "Katoucha". She was the daughter of author, playwright and historian Djibril Tamsir Niane. She had three children.

1 Early life and career
2 Activist
3 Quotes
4 Death
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life and career

As a child, Katoucha's family was forced into exile after her father came into conflict with Guinean President Sekou Toure. Living with an uncle in Mali, she rejoined her family in Dakar at age twelve. There she lived with the family of her paternal uncle, whose wife was private secretary to President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor.^[1] After marrying her husband at age seventeen and giving birth to her first child, they emigrated to France.

It was there, in the 1980s, that she began modelling first for Thierry Mugler, then Paco Rabanne and Christian Lacroix, and became known as Yves Saint Laurent's "muse."^[2] She remained one of the best known models in France, and an icon in Guinea. Recently she worked as host of the French language television program Top Model.

[edit] Activist

Niane stopped modeling in 1994 to focus on activism. She had been an outspoken activist against female circumcision, a rite performed in some African nations. Following her success as a model, she started the organization KPLCE - Katoucha pour la lutte contre l’excision (English: Katoucha for the battle against female circumcision). Niane herself was circumcised at age 9. In 2007, she published a book about her personal circumcision experience, "Dans ma chair" (Eng: "In My Flesh"), in France.

[edit] Quotes

Katoucha wrote about the experience of female circumcision in "Dans ma chair":

'One day, mother said we were going to the cinema. And I found myself the victim of a horror movie. 'An unimaginable trauma that I had never managed to talk about, until I found love and wrote In My flesh,' she said.

She said she saw her success as a form of revenge for the excision.

'I embodied the most arrogant and admired kind of femininity, I who was supposed to be diminished.'

[edit] Death

Katoucha lived in a houseboat on the Seine, near the Alexander III bridge in Paris. On February 1, 2008, she returned to her houseboat from a party. This was the last time she was reportedly seen alive. On February 4, 2008, police opened a missing persons case for her. Her purse was found untouched outside the door to her boat. Police believed that no foul play was involved, and that she was likely intoxicated and fell into the Seine.^[3]

Her body was found in the Seine River on February 28, 2008. The 47 year old model is believed to have died from an accidental drowning.