Saïdou Dicko (Burkina Faso, 1979) grew up as a shepherd in rural Burkina Faso and started drawing the outlines of the fauna and flora that surrounded him from the age of 5. His childhood imaginary was deeply rooted in the Fulani traditions of a life of nomadic shepherding. The self-taught visual
artist, who currently lives and works in Paris, remains a nomad, travelling the world in search of inspiration with frequent returns to his native Burkina Faso. Dicko gained much applause for his series “The Shadowed Peoples”, where painted over photographs transformed people into silhouettes, reminiscent of Auguste Edouart’s 19th-century silhouette portraits. Contrary to Edouart who portrayed high society during the industrial revolution, Dicko turned the spotlight on people living their lives ‘in the shadows’, too often misrepresented in one-dimensional narratives of poverty and hardship. Dicko highlights the human rather than the individual, and writes multidimensional tales of possibilities, filled with hope and optimism.

Early 2021, Dicko took these characters to a new medium and isolated them on traditional organic cotton made in Burkina Faso. The characters are abstracted from their surroundings and placed in a new context of hope where transformation and movement are key words. The works are powerful in their simplicity and joy. Centrally positioned, the child’s black silhouette contrasts with the light cotton, in correspondence with Dicko’s ongoing fascination with the interplay of light and dark. Standing on colorful plastic water cans, the girl holds a water bottle from which green branches with red flowers spring. Everyday objects surpass their functionality and become loaded with symbolism. Plastic feeds a reborn nature and becomes a source of life. It evokes renewal. The shadows that spring under Dicko’s hands take over all temporality. Yesterday, today and tomorrow belong to them. They are the change. Africa being the continent of the future, the shadowy children turn into light and represent a promise of change and progress.

Saïdou Dicko has exhibited at many international events (biennials, international fairs, exhibitions) and his works received several prizes : Prix Blachère in 2006 in Dakar Biennale, Prix de la francophonie at the African Photography expo of Bamako in 2007, the Fondation Thamgidi prize in 2008 in Dakar and the Off prize of the European Union that same year. Since 2013, he is also active as a curator (3th International Biennial of Casablanca) and scenographer with Arkane Africa. Saïdou Dicko is represented by Galerie Afikaris in Paris, who exhibited him together with Hyacinthe Ouattara in March 2021 during the acclaimed exhibition “La poésie du lien”.