Art Brussels: Brussels Expo | Brussels | Belgium

SAÏDOU DICKO WAS BORN IN 1979 IN DEOU, BURKINA FASO. HE LIVES AND WORKS IN PARIS.

A self-taught artist, Saïdou Dicko’s art pays tribute to the Peul culture in which he grew up. The shadow is the master in his work, erasing social and cultural differences to convey a universal message of peace and love.

Although he is known for his painted photographs, the artist does not consider himself a photographer but an artist using the medium of photography. Thus, Dicko’s characters can be found in one medium to another: drawing, embroidery and video. He captures moments of play and bears witness to the infinite imagination of the children who inhabit his works.

Winner of an award for his first exhibition at the Dakar Biennial in 2006, Saïdou Dicko’s work is now presented at biennials, fairs and international exhibitions. Since 2003, he has participated in numerous fairs such as Paris Photo (Paris, France), artgenève (Geneva, Switzerland), Photo Basel (Basel, Switzerland), 1-54 London (London, UK) and 1-54 New York (New York, USA).

OMAR MAHFOUDI WAS BORN IN 1981 IN TANGIER, MOROCCO. HE LIVES AND WORKS IN PARIS.

A self-taught artist, Omar Mahfoudi plays with the movement the matter creates on the surface of the canvas. Fantasmagorical landscapes arise to challenge the place of humans among nature, mirroring the ongoing climate crisis.

The lockdown caused by the covid pandemic, awakened in Omar Mahfoudi a desire for mystical exile leading to a need to reconnect with nature – as well as to answer its call for help. Hence, his series about fire embodies the situation of ecological emergency. If the main subject of this series remains the element, it also explores its relationship with human beings. Sometimes fire is controlled, and sometimes it escapes. The flames take over the canvas in an abstract dance and invade the artist’s usually dreamlike landscapes.

Mahfoudi’s work has been showcased during numerous international art fairs such as 1-54 London (London, UK), ARCO (Madrid, Spain), artgenève (Geneva, Switzerland) and Art Cologne (Cologne, Germany) .

JEAN DAVID NKOT WAS BORN IN 1989 IN DOUALA, IN CAMEROON WHERE HE LIVES AND WORKS.

A graduate of Foumban’s Institute of Fine Arts and the National School of Arts, Paris- Cergy, France, the aesthetic of Nkots’ works unfolds through realistic portraits over a mapped background.

While he is a painter of the human condition, since 2020, he tackles the issue of the exploitation of raw materials in Africa and the economical and political stakes underneath. He now focuses his thought on cotton growing, which he associates with the beginnings of capitalism through its cultivation and trading. He underlines its environmental and human impact and links it to the North/South relationship.

Nkot’s work has been shown at art fairs in Miami, New York, London, Paris, Marrakech and Cape Town. It has also been exhibited in international institutions such as the Guangdong Times Museum (Guangdong, China), Institut des Cultures d’Islam (Paris, France), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin, Allemagne) , Kunsthalle Krems (Krems, Austria) .

OZIOMA ONUZULIKE WAS BORN IN 1972 IN ACHI, NIGERIA. HE LIVES AND WORKS IN NSUKKA.

A ceramic artist and poet, Ozioma Onuzulike graduated from Nsukka University in Nigeria , where he is currently a professor of ceramic art and African art and design history. His tapestries in ceramic explore the historical and sociological roots of the political and socio-economic turmoil in Africa.

Onuzulike works with locally sourced clay, recycled glass and copper wires, which resemble Africa’s prestige cloths such as Nigerian Akwete and Aso Oke; or lace – all of which are highly regarded in Africa as markers of social status. The titles of his works refer to a garment and the status of the person wearing it. The artist crafts precious objects, symbols of power and protection. He participates in the ongoing conversation around the issue of social change and our relationship with the environment.

Onuzulike’s work has been shown at the Armory Show (New York, USA), artgenève (Geneva, Switzerland) and 1-54 London (London, UK); and was also part of institutional shows like at the Centre for Contemporary Art (Lagos, Nigeria) and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK).

TEMANDROTA, WHOSE BIRTH NAME IS RANDRIAHASANDRATRA RAZAFIMANDIMBY, WAS BORN IN 1975 IN ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR, WHERE HE CURRENTLY LIVES AND WORKS.

Raised in a family of hunters in the south of Madagascar, Temandrota has suffered from the kéré (famine caused by drought in the south of the island), an age-old tragedy that has been a driving force in his creative process. His art is strongly influenced by his Tandroy identity (people of the Androy region, the arid south of the Big Island), and he questions the traditional world, linked to orality and the land. The artist draws his inspiration from nature and the ambivalence of a modern society marked by its traditions.

The first winner of the Paritana Prize in 2017, the artist manipulates both recycled elements representative of consumer society and natural elements such as sap, sisal (also called Agave sisalana) , soil or pigments of animal or plant origin. Temandrota’s work was part of the exhibition Madagascar, Arts de la Grande Île in 2018 at the Quai Branly Museum (Paris, France).