| Saidou Dicko (Burkina Faso) |
|
Born
in 1979 in Déou, Burkina Faso, Saïdou Dicko now lives and works in
Dakar, Senegal. As a young Peulh shepherd Dicko taught himself to draw
at the early age of 5, inspired by the sheep’s shadows reflected on the
Sahel ground. From the ages of 5 to 7, he studied the Koran at school
but gave this up to go back to the fields and become a shepherd again,
this time he created his own alphabet made of stars, the moon and the
sun. At the age of 9, he joined a school in Ouagadougou, but after 3
months decided that school was not suited to him and that he would
rather learn in his own way. From this moment onwards, he learnt French
with the kids in the area who rejected him as a “villager” because he
was missing classes. In order to attract their attention, he created a
video club with wall projections based on shadow puppets, for which he
would get a coin per child.
During his teenage years, he did all kinds of mundane jobs to earn money and buy drawing and painting material. In 1997, he learnt to cook with Philippine missionaries. Two years later, he started working in a hotel in Ouagadougou, first as a dishwasher and then as a cook. Concurrently he created and ran his own youth association with the aim of maintaining a clean infrastructure of the district. In 2003, he became head waiter. During this time, he continued painting with unusual pigments and sold his works to the hotel clients. He also opened an exhibition space much like a traditional Peulh hut in his home.
In 2005, he decided to go to Senegal to discover new horizons. After 20 years of a photographic career, and that same year in December, Dicko decided to explore photography with an artistic vision of shadows. In May 2006, he exhibited 60 of his works at the fringe event of the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary Art. Following this exhibition he received the Jean-Paul Blanchère Award which rewards young artists. He also took part in a collective exhibition in Saint Dominguez at the first ACP festival. In October 2006, he was invited by the Jean-Paul Blachère Foundation to show his work in Apt, France, with 5 other Jean-Paul Blanchère Award winners.
Since this trip, he has shown his work in different galleries and countries: the Galerie La Vénerie in Brussels, Belgium, during the “African Fortnight” in October 2006; the Galerie Chab in Bamako in November 2006; ARTMADRID, Spain in 2007; and “Portes ouvertes de Gorée”, Senegal. At the end of 2007, with the support of Africalia, he launched a monographic publication gathering 100 of his photos taken in Senegal and Burkina and he participate in the 7th African Photography Encounters in Bamako.
He received the best francophone artist award from the Intergovernmental Francophone Agency in 2007. From then on, hiw works have been shown at the 8th Biennale of Contemporary Art of Dakar in 2008; the IFA Gallery, Berlin, in October 2009; the 3rd Biennale of Contemporary Art in Saint Brieuc at "Africa Now", Washington, at the Mondial Bank headquarters; MC2A, Bordeaux; and the Ouagadougou Cultural Centre in 2008.
Today in
Dakar, Dicko continues to "catch" people's shadows, their attitude, and
their posture. |