Design Indaba 2015

Omar Victor Diop was born in Dakar, Senegal, where he still lives. Finding quick success with early conceptual projects, in 2012 he was encouraged to end a career in corporate communications to further pursue life as an artist.

With a body of work that includes fine art, fashion and portrait photography – including the globally heralded The Studio of Vanities, a series of staged portraits showing the new faces of art and culture scenes in African urban centres – Diop enjoys mixing photography with other art forms and uses costume design, styling and creative writing to give life to inspiration.

He was nurtured in childhood by Afro-Caribbean literature chef-d’oeuvres, such as Maryse Condé and the characters in her novel Ségou, who transformed from lives of “aliens” to notable figures in society. Diop sees this as a reflection of his own journey, that has sometimes found him in tiny minorities seeking examples of adaptation to new contexts and ways of being. He imagines art as the only conversation that will never end and takes inspiration from people who redefine their preferred futures daily, believing it is the only way to truly be exceptional and leave a footprint of value for humankind.

Diop has exhibited in Dakar, Arles, Panama City, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Addis Ababa and Geneva.