Abdoulaye Konaté

Malí

Born in Diré, Mali in 1953, he lived for six years in Havana, Cuba, where he studied at the Higher Institute of Arts, and currently lives and works in Mali, in the city of Bamako.

Abdoulayé Konaté uses textiles to create his works, large abstract and figurative rugs with which he expresses his position in the face of the political, social and environmental situations of his country.

He worked for many years at the National Museum of Mali, was Director of the Palace of Culture and since 2003 is General Director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimedia Balla Fasséké Kouyaté in Bamako. He has received several awards such as the prestigious Leopold Senghor at the Dak'Art Biennial in Dakar, Senegal, the Chevalier de L'Ordre National du Mali, the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts and Lettres de la République Française as well as the Passeport – Créateurs sans Frontièrs in France and Officier de l'Ordre National de Mali.

Abdoulayé Konaté's work has been exhibited in countries around the world, has been at Documenta12 in Kassel (Germany) and was included in Africa Remix (2004), a traveling exhibition that has toured cities such as Düsseldorf, Paris, London and Tokyo. He has participated in the 7th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea, the 2nd Seville Biennale of Contemporary Art, the 24th Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil and the Venice Biennale, etc.

In addition, his work has been exhibited at the Center George Pompidou, Paris, France; at the National Museum of African and Oceanian Arts, Paris, France; at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, at the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, at the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, in the United States.

Konaté's work is part of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée National du Mali, Bamako or the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, among others.