Shadow Work Portraiture by Burkinabé Saïdou Dicko

Born in Burkina Faso in 1979 Saïdou Dicko is a self taught visual artist and photographer. His work developed from childhood observing shadows dancing on the ground. He traced outlines of the shadows he observed and this would later become a motif that carried across his work. Dicko blends photography and textures to create these stunning portraits.

 “As a child, I looked at them the way others look at clouds, and invented stories. It started by drawing on the floor and walls, then on fabrics that my mother embroidered. 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.”