Delphine Diallo

France | Senegal | USA

Brooklyn-based artist Delphine Diallo, of French and Senegalese descent, uses photography to deconstruct biased representations of women. Inspired by Peter Beard, she empowers black women, transforming them into goddesses through body paint, jewelry, and unique attire. Her ethical practice prioritizes long-term relationships with subjects, ensuring authentic representation. Combining spiritual symbolism and mythology, Diallo challenges conventional portraiture, incorporating martial arts, non-Western literature, and AI into her self-portraits and collages. She envisions an inclusive, matriarchal future through her provocative visuals.

The Kingdom of Kush

Delphine Diallo's "Kush Collection" combines analog photography with AI, which she calls "ancestral intelligence," to decolonize representation and reimagine African history. Inspired by Cheikh Anta Diop and Frantz Fanon, her work draws on her Senegalese and French heritage, focusing on the often-overlooked Kingdom of Kush (2500 BCE – 300 CE). Diallo uses AI to generate images evoking African landscapes, counteracting the marginalization of African civilizations in dominant historical narratives.

By blending African mythology with contemporary technology, Diallo creates a space where reality and imagination converge. Her work champions the creation of a thriving present, emphasizing that the tools for realizing our dreams—nourished by our past—are already within our grasp. Ultimately, the "Kush Collection" embodies the potential for a harmonious human-machine future, proving that AI can be a force for emancipation and creative transcendence.

GALLERY

PROGRAMS & WORKSHOPS BY THE ARTIST

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