Sengalese photographer Omar Victor Diop has simultaneously addressed his love and fear for Africa and its living creatures in Allegoria, a series of 15 digitally embellished photographs.
Omar Victor Diop’s Allegoria Series
In Omar Victor Diop’s photo series titled Allegoria, the Dakar-based photographer has depicted himself as a sort of protector or Diety of his home continent in fifteen digitally embellished self-portraits.
I was not familiar with Omar’s work but came across a portrait from this series on Instagram and was immediately intrigued, so I wanted to learn and see more. A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, Diop first worked for British American Tobacco in Africa, but it wasn’t long before he realized he wanted to fully devote himself to a career as an artist and left the corporate world. It was his success in 2011 at the Rencontres de Bamako, The African Photography Biennial, which introduced his work to the world.
Mixing photography with other art forms, including textile design, fashion design and creative writing, Diop brings his inspiration to life. Add a little post production photo retouching and the results are semi-surrealist self-portraits.
In Allegoria, he surrounds himself with the environment’s threatened flora and fauna as a result of climate change. In doing so, he becomes the embodiment of humanity, the protector of life – taking on the challenges facing the African continent.
Diop uses the phrase “A love letter to all living things on this precious piece of rock called Mother Earth” to describe each of the images in the series that immortalize the biodiversity upon which climate change is wreaking havoc.
Below are numbers 9-15 of the artworks from the Senegalese photographer’s chapter addressing the issue of the environment and the importance of the climate challenges facing the African continent.
Allegoria 9, 2021 – Impression jet d’encre pigmentaire sur papier Canson Infinity Arches 88 – © Omar Victor Diop – Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris. Post prod collab: @wearecleverize
Allegoria 10, 2021 – Impression jet d’encre pigmentaire sur papier Canson Infinity Arches 88 – © Omar Victor Diop – Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris. Post prod collab: @wearecleverize
Allegoria 11, 2021 – Impression jet d’encre pigmentaire sur papier Canson Infinity Arches 88 – © Omar Victor Diop – Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris. Post prod collab: @wearecleverize
Allegoria 12, 2021 – Impression jet d’encre pigmentaire sur papier Canson Infinity Arches 88 – © Omar Victor Diop – Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris. Fashion design by @tidjanekenny. Post prod collab: @wearecleverize
Allegoria 15, 2021 – Impression jet d’encre pigmentaire sur papier Canson Infinity Arches 88 – © Omar Victor Diop – Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris. Post prod collab: @wearecleverize
The works have been printed in editions of 5. To enquire about their availability and pricing, please visit the Magnin A gallery here.
Omar Victor Diop
Born in 1980, Dakar, Senegal
Lives and works in Dakar.
Omar Victor Diop is represented exclusively by the MAGNIN-A gallery, Paris.
images courtesy of the artist and MAGNIN-A Gallery