Saïdou Dicko
Saïdou Dicko was born in Burkina Faso in 1979. He lives and works in Paris, France. Saïdou is a self-taught visual artist (photographer, videographer, installer and painter).
At the age of five, Dicko, a Fulani Shepherd, learns to draw by collecting shadows of his sheep on the Sahel soils. Naturally, the shadow is present in all of his work. In 2005, he embarked on photography. Six months after his photographic debut, he presents his first exhibition in the 2006 Dakar Biennial Off, where he won a prize, the first in a long series.
Through painting, photography, video or installations, Dicko transforms the representation of forms giving life to visual phenomena, to physical and psychological events of light, uniting the two extreme values that are at the heart of black and white contrast. . He finds pleasure in bringing together the opposites to talk to us about equality, union, maternal love, freedom, humanity …
Since then, his work has been presented at many international events (biennials, international fairs, exhibitions). In 2012, he co-founded the collective “Rendez-Vous d’Artistes” which is a nomad platform where artists of all kinds: curators, gallerists, art lovers, cultural journalists … exchange. These exchanges sometimes lead to exhibition projects. Since 2013, he has been curator and scenographer, particularly in Morocco.
The shadowed People
His artistic work continues to evolve thanks to his travels, his experience, his various inspirations and always his quest for a better world. His new series :
“The Shadowed People” is a reflection of all these years of work and research. He presents us with more and more poetic and poignant works which unveil him from day to day.
Childhood is a recurring theme in Saïdou work, both in the choice of his models — mainly children — and in the settings, which feature traditional African fabrics and tapestries. “This is my tribute to craftsmen whose skills are disappearing. I think there is no reason to think that crafts, art, and tradition are at odds with modernity. By bringing them together, we can create something new.”
For the overarching thread in his work is an outlook on today’s world, an outlook imbued with empathy and humanism. Beneath the candor of his images, with a possible connection to naive art, there is wisdom. This is no doubt a legacy of his childhood stories.
Another powerful theme in his work is plastic, a material so decried today. “As with everything, what matters is what people do with it,” explains Saïdou Dicko, reminding us that in some countries plastic canisters are indispensable when water is not available. “They are recycled ad infinitum and end their life as flower pots, for example.” He has turned them into living artworks to be discovered. “We can invent using what exists in front of us,” concludes Saïdou Dicko.
