Abdoulaye Konate Mali, b. 1953

Konaté was raised in a household of intellectuals, and continued this tradition by pursuing formal training in painting at the Institut National des Arts in Bamako, Mali and in art more broadly at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba. The latter experience opened up a world of multidisciplinary artmaking, the influence of which endures on his practice. His works have graced solo and group exhibitions in Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa, Japan, Italy, France, USA, U.K., Germany, and Cuba among others. Konaté has been included in permanent collections of several institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the USA, the Centre Pompidou in France, the Musée National du Mali in Mali, the Bargoin Museum in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Smithsonian Museum in the USA, and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Other honors include being named an Officer of the National Order of Mali as well as a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters. Konaté is the Founding General Director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia Balla Fasseké Kouyaté in Bamako, which is a testament to his commitment to arts education and nurturing creative talent.