Omar Victor Diop at Kunsten: Critically Acclaimed Photographer Reassesses History
The critically acclaimed Senegalese artist Omar Victor Diop (b.1980) is coming to Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg this September. His striking photographs capture modern African sensibilities, and often focus on a recasting of history, the representation of diasporic experiences and global politics of black resistance.
Combining photography with other art forms, Diop’s remarkable body of work includes fine art, fashion, design, and portrait photography. Using artistic self-portraiture as a key tool to engage with complex representational politics, community embodiment and ideas of self-fashioning, his practice is characterised by meticulously staged, dramatic imagery in which the artist himself appears as the main visual protagonist and interlocutor.
“We are both proud and delighted to present an exhibition of Omar Victor Diop’s photographs. They take a critical look at the dissemination of history and give well-deserved attention to individuals who have so often been overlooked. Diop’s photographs combine reflections on history with visions for the future. The three projects invite the viewer to consider such subjects as what it means to live outside one’s native country, global fights for freedom both historical and contemporary, and the climate crisis and its significance for the nature and landscapes of tomorrow,” says Lasse Andersson, Director of Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg.
This exhibition presents – brought together for the first time – three discrete yet interconnected emblematic bodies of works completed between 2014 – 2021: Allegoria, Diaspora, and Liberty.
Diaspora (2014) draws inspiration from 15th to 19th century Western portraits depicting a diverse constituency of black figures who have risen to prominence in courts, science, politics, and social movements in Europe – yet often missing from conventional narratives. Largely based on historical paintings, which Diop imbues with playful contemporary references, the series celebrates four centuries of notable Africans with extraordinary lives in the diaspora.
In Liberty (2017), subtitled A Universal Chronology of Black Protest, the artist reinterprets significant moments of historical revolt associated with the struggle for black freedom; from Apartheid movements in South Africa to civil right campaigns in America, the Caribbean and Europe to contemporary Black Lives Matter politics, exploring what unifies and defines these ongoing, global fights for equality and human rights.
Diop’s project Allegoria (2021), imaginatively addresses the climate crisis and its impact on the Global South and the African continent especially. In these vibrant metaphorical, paradisiacal images, Diop is pictured amidst stunning imagery of carefully constructed flora and fauna. Here, openly borrowing from genres that include classical painting, religious iconography and West African photographic studio portraiture, as well as science textbooks and encyclopaedia, the artist considered the fate of humanity in the wake of natural disasters and environmental decline, asking how we may secure more viable, liveable futures together.
Omar Victor Diop is based on a 2018 exhibition by Autograph, originally presented in London (co-curated by Renée Mussai and Mark Sealy), this touring iteration is curated by Renée Mussai and reflects the accompanying monograph Omar Victor Diop (5 Continents Editions, 2021). This exhibition is produced for Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg in collaboration with Autograph, London and Gallery MAGNIN-A, Paris.
Photo: Omar Victor Diop, Allegoria 6 (2021). © Omar Victor Diop. Commissioned by Autograph.