Anna Binta Diallo is a multidisciplinary visual artist who investigates issues of individuality, aesthetics, and culture. Born in Dakar, Senegal, she grew up in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, and now lives and works in Montreal. The photo-collages of people, animals, and objects that comprise Wanderings often spring from Diallo’s own life, and mesh with collective knowledges such as history and folklore, and pop culture visuals. This mix hints at, but also transcends, personal and group experience and offers new stories.
The Wanderings collages are mainly wall-mounted forms produced in a variety of sizes. They contain references to the cosmos, bright design patterns, and excerpts of texts. Diallo collects these from diverse archival sources, including online and found materials. Taken together, her semi-silhouettes set form and symbolism in flux. Not surprisingly, Wanderings is an iterative project, changing in relation to its architectural context across different exhibitions. And while the artist sometimes groups elements together, there is no linear reading. Even the flatness of the shapes and the negative spaces that surround them are important in making or breaking dreamlike connections. As Diallo says, “Erasing, rewriting, and recreating are always in my head and drive my practice.”
Diallo’s work has been featured in numerous publications such as Canadian Art, PaperWait, and Musagetes. She exhibits nationally and internationally, including the forthcoming Mission Dakar, guest curated by artist Moridja Kitenge Banza for the Montreal Arts Council and Gallery CLARK, Montreal, in relation to the Dakar Biennale. Wanderings has appeared in diverse forms at galleries and public spaces in Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Finland.
Image: Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings, 2019-2020 (detail), collages printed on Photo-Tex, Courtesy of the Artist