July 16, 2008
in 2005, delphine diallo traveled to st. louis, the capital of senegal, in search of her family heritage. born in paris to senegalese and french parents, diallo undertook the magic photo studio series as a way of exploring the cultural identity of her family and of pushing herself as an artist. the series is inspired in large part by the work of malick sidibé, who ran a studio in bamako, mali, during the 1960s, producing earnest, straightforward portraits in whimsically painted glass frames, for which he recently received the venice biennale golden lion for lifetime achievement. In her work, diallo compresses pattern and image into a single composition; patterns extracted from the textiles, totemic animals, and plants are brought directly into the image itself and layered on top of the portraits. these techniques are drawn from her background as a graphic designer and illustrator click: magic studio

in 2005, delphine diallo traveled to st. louis, the capital of senegal, in search of her family heritage. born in paris to senegalese and french parents, diallo undertook the magic photo studio series as a way of exploring the cultural identity of her family and of pushing herself as an artist.

the series is inspired in large part by the work of malick sidibé, who ran a studio in bamako, mali, during the 1960s, producing earnest, straightforward portraits in whimsically painted glass frames, for which he recently received the venice biennale golden lion for lifetime achievement. In her work, diallo compresses pattern and image into a single composition; patterns extracted from the textiles, totemic animals, and plants are brought directly into the image itself and layered on top of the portraits. these techniques are drawn from her background as a graphic designer and illustrator

click: magic studio