Omar Victor Diop (born 1980) is a Senegalese photographer whose conceptually-rich work is exhibited around the world.“Through the Lens.” ''Films Media Group'', 2018, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=102633&xtid=187222. ''CNN''. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019. He lives and works in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

and Paris, France.

Early life and education

Omar Victor Diop was born in

, Senegal. He is the youngest of six children, and his parents valued education as a means to pursue opportunity. He and his siblings attended optimal schooling from a young age, which resulted in a career in finance and corporate communications. He studied at the ESCE International Business School in Paris before working at

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

as an analyst, and then with

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

in the African international relations department. After a year-long sabbatical from corporate life, Diop made a shift towards a career in the arts in 2010. His debut project, ''Fashion 2112, The Future of Beauty,'' was a series of photographs which was shown at the Pan African Exhibition of the African Biennale of Photography in

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

, Mali (2011). The success and recognition of this project resulted in Diop's attention to photography exclusively.

Work

Though Diop began his career in communications, by 2010 he had moved into the highly active territory of fashion photography. Prior to this, he had experimented in landscape photography, and later worked for fashion lines Bantu Wax and Adama Paris, among others. By September 2013, he had produced 70 percent of the commercial advertising market in Dakar. While he continues to work in the commercial field, his studio practice lies in the style of Fine Art portraiture; often self-portraiture. Diop uses his own body to restage historical events, encouraging "the viewer to question the narrative of history that we are traditionally taught and see Black people themselves as the agents of change." He produces work in series, and, much like Malian photographer

Seydou Keïta Seydou Keïta (1921/23 – 21 November 2001) was a Malian photographer known for his portraits of people and families he took at his portrait photography studio in Mali's capital, Bamako, in the 1950s. His photographs are widely acknowledged not ...

, continues in the tradition of African studio photography.

Series

Diop has released numerous series, including: * ''Re-mixing Hollywood'' (2013) - a collaboration with the French-born American photographer

Antoine Tempé Antoine Tempé is a French photographer who has made work in New York City, West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defin ...

. Consisting of 20 photographs, the series is based on iconic moments of popular American and French movies while replacing their subjects with individuals from Senegal and

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

. * ''Project Diaspora'' (2015) - a self-portrait series in which Diop recreates 15th and 16th century European paintings of educated, stylish, and confident historical figures of the African diaspora. Diop plans to widen ''Project Diaspora''’s scope to Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. * ''Hopeful Blues'' (2015) - a series which explores hope and resilience through portraits of refugees of the

UN Refugee Agency The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, lo ...

. (Part of his exhibit titled ''REFUGEE.)'' * ''Liberty'' (2016) - a photographic series which recounts, interprets and juxtaposes historically defining moments of black history.

Exhibitions

Diop has participated in numerous exhibitions internationally, including:

Group exhibitions

Source: *''Untitled Miami Beach,'' Miami, Florida (2016) *''African Folk Art?: Contemporary Creations in Sub-Saharian Africa,'' FRAC, Aquitaine, France (2016) *''Paris Photo,''

Grand Palais The (; ), commonly known as the , is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, France. Construction of the began in 1897 following the demolitio ...

, Paris, France (2017) *''Festival Photo,''

La Gacilly La Gacilly (; Gallo: ''La Gaczilhae'', ) is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France. It is located on the right bank of the Aff River, about north of Redon, on the train line between Vannes and Rennes and a ...

'','' Brittany, France (2017) *''Art/ Afrique, le nouvel atelier,''

Louis Vuitton Foundation The Louis Vuitton Foundation ( French: ''Fondation d'entreprise Louis-Vuitton''), previously Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation (''Fondation Louis-Vuitton pour la création''), is a French art museum and cultural center sponsored by the group L ...

, Paris, France (2017) *''African Passions,'' Cadaval Palace, Evora, Portugal (2018) *''Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design,''

Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...

, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2019) * ''1.54'' Contemporary African Art Fair, Avenue Bad Jdid, Marrakech (2019) *''Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present'', Moody Center for the Arts, Houston, Texas (2020)

Solo exhibitions

Source: * ''Liberty/ Diaspora,

Autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

, London, England (2018)'' * ''Visual Arts Biennal of Mercosul, Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2018)'' * ''Africa Africa, Palazzo Litta, Milan, Italy (2018)'' * ''A Queen Within Adorned Archetypes,''

Museum of Pop Culture The Museum of Pop Culture (or MoPOP) is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then ...

, Seattle, Washington (2019) * ''The Luminous Worlds of Omar Victor Diop'', Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center (2022)

Collections

Diop's work is held in a number of public collections, including: *

, Paris, France *

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, New York, US * Tang Museum at Skidmore College, New York, US * Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Illinois, US

Art market

Omar Victor Diop is represented by the MAGNIN-A gallery in Paris, and by Elaine Harris with AfricaLive Productions.

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* J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere *

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diop, Omar Victor 1980 births Senegalese photographers People from Dakar Living people 21st-century photographers Photographers from Paris Senegalese emigrants to France