Aïcha Aïdara, was born in 1969 in Senegal and graduated from the École nationale des arts in Dakar in 1999. Early on Aicha Aïdara became interested in the pagne, an important and symbolic object in Senegalese culture, one that sometimes comes close to an artwork, and which can be understood like a book. Her study of this culture allowed Aïcha Aïdara to reappropriate the figure of the pagne, turning the fabric into an extraordinary loom. In 1999, Aïcha Aïdara obtained her degree from the École Nationale des Arts in Dakar, which opened new horizons for her. Her works, with their thread-like lines and understated colours, are the hallmark of a symbiotic technique located between painting and weaving.

Aïssa Dione, born in France in 1952, is a Franco-Senegalese artist who is a graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris and who studied philosophy and English at the University of Dakar. A painter, designer, stylist, and gallery owner, she fully embodies the two cultures she combines in her work. Known for having modernized the once endangered pagne tissé, Dione founded her fabric company ADT (Aïssa Dione Tissus) in 1992 and has collaborated with leading interior designers. She was named one of the twenty most influential women in Africa by Forbes Africa in 2015 and she is the initiator of the Institut des Métiers d’Art et du Design project in Dakar.

Alassane Koné was born in 1995 in Bamako. In 2015, the visual artist joined the workshop of the Tim’Arts collective in Bamako where he trained for four years in an academic course at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia. After first creating anthropomorphic forms by associating twisted wire and metal objects, he began using cotton and then thread as of 2018. The latter has become been central to his artistic approach—inspired by the work of tailors in their sewing workshops—one which makes use of every aspect of his artistic education: proportions taken from drawing, volume from sculpture, and colour from painting.

Alioune Diouf was born in Dakar in 1964, where he works as a painter and sculptor. Of Serer origin, he was educated in a Koranic school, and became a self-taught artist. In 1989, he became a member of the iconic Laboratoire Agit’Art, where he lived for 28 years. While participating in the group’s performances and workshops, he developed a highly personal practice. As well as creating his own plant-based pigments, he also uses textile scraps and sewing on his canvases and creates sculptures from natural elements from his surrounding environment. His pictorial world is characterized by the intermingling of characters, animals, cosmic and floral motifs, and by spiritual and sacred symbolism.

Arébénor Bassène, born in 1974, lives and works in Dakar. A graduate of the École nationale des Arts of Senegal, Arébénor Bassène has mastered the art of painting and was inspired by the first African migrations to Andalusia, by Cheikh Anta Diop’s tales of ancient Egypt, and by his Diola culture. His works have been exhibited at the Dakar Biennale, the Musée Théodore Monod d’art africain / IFAN in Dakar, during Regards sur cours in Gorée, and at the Selebe Yoon Gallery in Dakar (2017).

Aska Yamashita, born in 1973, began her artistic career as a designer. In 1989, she joined Atelier Montex as an intern, where she learned the techniques of the embroidery world. Her meeting with Annie Trussart, then Artistic Director of the workshop, marked a decisive moment in the evolution of the House. Their partnership paved the way for the impressive development of Atelier Montex.

Cécile Ndiaye was born in France and lives and works in Senegal. Her artistic approach combines design, craft, and art in a committed and sustainable artistic approach. Through her work she gathers traditional knowledge and techniques on leather in West Africa. In addition, Cécile Ndiaye created the leather goods company Studio Wudé. Committed to social and individual well-being through collective expression, the enhancement of endogenous skills, and the ability to create value, she constantly develops creative and organizational processes to allow Studio Wudé to be a place of invention and affirmation for each craftsperson.

Cheikha Sigil lives and works in Dakar. A designer and artist, Cheikha Bamba Loum grew up between a family of artists and a family of designers in the heart of the popular Medina district of Dakar. With his prêt-à-porter brand Sigil (“stand up straight” in Wolof), he combines the mastery of fibrous texture and sculptural form, notably with the use of denim, and has received several international awards. His workshop is located on the top floor of the Espace Medina, a unique art space created by his uncle in 1966 where art, life, and religious studies all cohabit.

Fatim Soumaré grew up in Dakar where she discovered traditional West African textile crafts thanks to her mother, a specialised in thioup (Senegalese hand-dyeing). After studying in France where she began a career in finance, alongside which she also worked as a costume designer, she became an artisanal weaver and designer before moving back to Senegal. She chose to settle in the Sine-Saloum region after discovering the tradition of falè (artisanal spinning of organic, rainfed cotton) and its cultural, social, and economic dimensions. Driven by her quest to preserve this tradition and help it to be recognized, Fatim Soumaré created the Falè brand that employs a collective of 200 women spinners in five villages of the Sine-Saloum.

Johanna Bramble, an artist and textile designer, lives and works between Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Drawn to the rich textile tradition of Senegal, particularly in the field of weaving, she collaborates with Senegalese weavers who use the traditional weaving techniques found in her textile creations. She is also inspired by geometric patterns whose symbolism oscillates between the country’s rich textile culture and contemporary interpretations.

Julian Farade, born in Paris in 1986, lives and works in Paris. Somewhere between figuration and abstraction, Julian Farade’s works represent a constant, chaotic clash of form and colour. Whether painted, drawn, woven, or engraved, his fantastical animals are everywhere: they swarm, overflow, overwhelm. Through embroidery, he is able to transpose his pictorial animal vocabulary into wool, as the frenzy of his canvases and notebooks is replaced by a meticulous and meditative process.

Kalidou Kassé is a visual artist trained at the Manufactures Sénégalaises des Arts Décoratifs in Thiès. He has been referred to as “the brush of the Sahel” by the art critic Iba Ndiaye Diadji. Originally from a family of weavers, his artistic creations draw on his life, experience, and culture. His work has been published in several art magazines and is regularly exhibited in Senegal and around the world. The founder of Taggat, the first public school of visual arts in Senegal, he also actively contributes to the promotion of arts in the world through the recent creation of the Centre International d’Art Contemporain et des Cultures (CIAC). Kalidou Kassé has received several awards and was recognized in 2015 as one of the most influential figures of the African continent by the Paris-based newspaper Le magazine de l’Afrique.

Khadija Aisha Ba Diallo is the creator of the brand L’Artisane and of the boutique Le Sandaga, whose showpiece is a restyled boubou for men. Playing with graphics, patterns, cuts, and the addition of rather playful details, she embellishes her creations with jewellery, bronze accessories, and leatherwork. Through her designs, she revives a true fashion heritage.

Malick Welli, born in Kaffrine in 1990, is a Senegalese visual artist who works with photography, fashion and spirituality. His work captures and represents the human condition which, for him, is a spiritual condition of duality, contradiction, and self-questioning. This multidisciplinary artist differentiates spirituality, which is lived, from religion, which must be followed.

Marie-Madeleine Diouf, born in Dakar in 1980, is a Senegalese fashion designer who grew up in Parcelles Assainies, a neighbourhood in the Dakar suburbs. After training as a medical assistant, she joined a practice where she stayed for fifteen years before devoting herself to textile design. At the head of the brand Nunu Design by DK, she works and experiments with fabric, such as the art of indigo dyeing and bogolan.

Manel Ndoye, born in Senegal in 1986, entered the École des Beaux-Arts to study drawing, but then made the most important discovery of his life: painting. Inspired by the ndawrabine, a traditional dance of the Lebou community in Senegal, he critiques the overexploitation of the sea and of our ecosystems. He portrays his own visual reality in a pictorial approach situated between figuration and abstraction: a “green” world, full of colour and of hope.

Mbali Dhlamini, born in Johannesburg in 1990, is a multidisciplinary artist and coordinator. Dhlamini engages in visual, tactile, and discursive research into indigenous cultural practices. With a particular interest in the decolonised practices in contemporary culture, her work engages in an ongoing dialogue between her past and current visual landscapes.

Pauline Guerrier lives and works in Paris and Aubervilliers. In a constant quest to learn ancestral techniques, this multidisciplinary artist brings together age-old knowledge with the world of today and tomorrow. Ecology, science, faith, and beliefs are subjects that continue to fascinate her. Her work is expressed through drawing and sculpture, but also through installations, performance, and video, using the medium that is best suited to the many different subjects she takes on.

Yassine Mekhnache, born in Lyon in 1979, is a self-taught contemporary artist based in Paris. Known for his gestural paintings in which embroidered motifs appear, Yassine Mekhnache has been painting and collaborating for fifteen years with embroiderers in Morocco, India, and more recently in Nigeria. The delicate embroidery enters into a virtuoso dialogue with his expressive and colourful motifs. In the autumn of 2022, he was invited by la Galerie du 19M to present Murdiya, an original project carried out with 22 students from the Institut français de la mode (IFM) and two of le19M’s resident Maisons d’art, Paloma and Atelier Montex.

Le village de Ngaye Méckhé est connu au Sénégal pour la qualité de ses savoir-faire. Si les hommes sont chargés de l’artisanat du cuir et de la cordonnerie, plus de 1 000 femmes sont investies dans la couture au sein du village et de ses environs et quelque 200 dans la broderie qu’elles ont, pour la plupart, héritée de leurs mères et grands-mères. Leurs motifs font partie d’un riche patrimoine immatériel et d’une tradition de plus de 4 siècles.

Benjamin Monteil, né et élevé à Dakar par des parents artistes, Benjamin Monteil arrive en France en 2007 pour étudier l’art. Six ans plus tard, il s’engage dans la voie de la gravure aux Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, après avoir découvert cette technique lors d’un cours de bande dessinée à Liège. Il vit aujourd’hui entre Dakar et Amsterdam.

Viyé Diba, né en Casamance en 1954, est diplômé de l’École normale supérieure d’éducation artistique de Dakar et de l’École pilote internationale d’art et de recherche de la villa Arson à Nice. Il a été professeur à l’École nationale des arts de Dakar où il a participé à la formation de plusieurs générations d’artistes. Il s’emploie dans sa démarche à interroger la matière, à déstructurer les canons esthétiques et à définir, en fonction des réalités propres, concepts et référents correspondant mieux à notre représentation du monde, à notre style de vie et à nos aspirations les plus intimes.