Saïdou Dicko (b. 1979, Burkina Faso) is a self-taught visual artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans photography, painting, video, and installation.
Dicko’s fascination with shadows began in childhood during his early years as a Peul shepherd in the Sahel. He would trace the silhouettes of his sheep in the sand, unknowingly laying the foundation for a visual language that continues to shape his work today. When he discovered photography in 2005, this childhood practice evolved into a profound artistic inquiry into light, absence, and the politics of visibility. Shadow has since become a defining element in his work—both metaphorically and materially.
Just six months after beginning to photograph, Dicko was selected for the 2006 Dakar Biennale Off, where he received the Prix Blachère, the first of several awards. He now lives in Paris.
Working across media, Dicko explores the interplay between form and disappearance, drawing on personal memory, social critique, and poetic abstraction. His work meditates on dualities—light and dark, presence and erasure, solitude and solidarity—engaging themes of freedom, maternal love, equality, and humanity.
In 2012, he co-founded Rendez-Vous d'Artistes; a nomadic platform for exchange among artists, curators, collectors, and writers. Since 2013, he has also worked as a curator and scenographer, including at the 3rd International Biennial of Casablanca, and in ongoing collaborations with ARKANE AFRICA in Morocco.
Unique works are available to acquire, from £2,575 + VAT. His inaugral solo exhibition in London will be showing from the 4th July - 7th September in our Print Sales Gallery.