BIO
MALICK WELLI is a Senegalese visual artist who lives and works in Dakar, Senegal. His work tackles themes of duality, spirituality, history and restitution of memory, pedagogy and displaced identity. Welli is interested in the convergence of religion with material influences; economics and power dynamics and how these shape visual culture. There is a questing for ecology and interdependence and how apparently independent events coincide and influence each other. Welli brings these material community concerns into sharp contrast with individual spiritual needs.
Welli’s works have been collected and exhibited internationally including: "In Brilliant Light" at the Wereldmuseum in Bergen Dal and at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden, the Netherlands (2023-2024) ; "Insistent Presence: Contemporary African Art from the Chazen Collection" at the Chazen Museum of Art, Wisconsin (USA) (2023); 1.54 Contemporary Art Fair, New York, USA (2023); "Sur le fil... "at 19M in Paris (2023); 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fair , Marrakech, Morocco ( 2023); Art x Lagos, Nigeria (2022), "Lightness of Being" a monographic exhibition at Galerie Atiss Dakar (2022); "Les Invincibles" at the Dakar Biennale (2022); Blackstar Film Festival, Philadelphia, USA (2022); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York (2021); EXPO CHGO, Chicago, USA (2019); Cairo Biennale, Egypt (2019); “Saint-Louis to St Louis”, Barret Barrera projects, Missouri, USA (2019); AKAA: Also Known As Africa fair, Paris, France (2018); Pour les Noirs et pour les Blancs" , Hierro Desvilles Gallery, Lille, France (2016).
Upcoming Exhibitions
Africa Foto Fair 2024 at MUCAT, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
October 31 - November 30, 2024.
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair-Marrakech
30 January - 2 February 2025
Will be represented by Galerie d'art L'Atelier 21
Powers of the Unseen at Express Newark, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.
February 25, 2025 - July 31, 2025.
Current Exhibition
In Brilliant Light, at Wereldmuseum, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Daily until November 3rd, 2024
Talks
2024
In conversation with Neal Rosenthal at Mad Rose Gallery, Millerton, New York, USA.
March 24
2023
In conversation with Ricky Lavern Martin at The American Arts Center of Casablanca, Morocco
July 25
Screenings
Dakar Biennale
July – August 2022
ICA Boston
Juneteenth Celebration
June 19, 2023
The American Arts Center of Casablanca, Morocco.
July 25, 2023
FAME Shorts Film Festival, Cape Town, South Africa
September 8, 2023
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES at Off the Wall 725 Ponce de Leon Avenue on the Eastside Atlanta Beltline Trail, USA.
March 2-9, 2024
CV
Born 1990, Kaffrine, Senegal
Lives and works in Dakar
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
The Way We Are, The American Art Center, Casablanca, Morocco
Anonym(us), Meydene, Marrakech, Morocco
Lightness of Being , Résidence de France, Cap Manuel, Dakar, Senegal
2022
Lightness Of Being, Galerie ATISS, Dakar, Senegal
2019
Spiritual phenomena, Egyptian Modern Art Museum, Cairo Biennale, Egypt
Spiritual phenomena, 1.54 Marrakech, Movenpick Hotel Marrakech, Morocco
2018
3rd Edition of AKAA fair “Also Known As Africa”,Paris, France
Untitled, Galerie Atiss, Dakar Contemporary art Biennale, Dakar,Senegal
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Identité Plurielle, curated by evidences, Domus Maubourg, Paris, France.
Sleep is Prayer, Yoka Lounge, Pointe des Almadies, Dakar, Senegal
2023
In Brilliant Light, Wereldmuseum, Leiden, The Netherlands
Insistent Presence, Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
In Brilliant Light, Wereldmuseum, Berg en Dal, The Netherlands
Sur le fil… Le 19M, Chanel, Aubervilliers, Paris, France
1.54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, USA
Sur le fil… The Theodore Monod African Art Museum, Dakar, Senegal
2022
1.54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, USA
Art X Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Black Star Film Festival, Philadelphia, USA
Les Invincibles, Dakar Contemporary Art Biennale, Senegal
2021
1.54 African Contemporary Art Fair, New York, USA
2019
Looks of freedom, EXPO Chicago Art Fair, Chicago, NAVY PIER, USA
Saint-Louis to St Louis, Barret Barrera projects, Missouri, USA
2018
Songes d’Hier, Rêveries du Présent, MuPho de Saint-Louis, Saint-Louis, Senegal
2016
Les Porteuses, Dakar Contemporary art biennale, British Council, Dakar,
Senegal
2015
Transition, Galerie Nationale, Dakar,Senegal
2014
Pour les Noirs et pour les Blancs, Hierro Desvilles Gallery, Lille,France
Collections
Chazen Museum of Art, Madison,Wisconsin (USA)
Kranzberg Arts Foundation, Saint-Louis, Missouri(USA)
Jimmy Jamieson collection, Saint-Louis, Missouri (USA)
The Jom collection, Dakar, (Senegal)
Ambassade de France au Sénégal
Société Générale SENEGAL
MuPho (Musée de la photographie), Saint-Louis, Senegal
Private collections (Senegal, France, Morocco, Germany, UK, USA)
Residencies
2024
William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence at Guild Hall of East Hampton, USA.
2023
Denniston Hill, Woodridge, New York, USA
Fondation Donwahi, Abidjan,CÔTE D’IVOIRE
2022
Operndorf Afrika, Burkina Faso
Collaborations / Photography Assignments
Meshell Ndegeocello/ No More Water / The Fire Next Time; The Gospel of James Baldwin
Fringe Arts
adrienne maree brown project / Holland Festival
Habiter Dakar
Exceptional Alien
Revue Tracés
Monocle
Forbes Afrique
Goethe Institute Senegal
Eiffage Senegal