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