Fatoumata Diabaté

Fatoumata Diabaté (born 19 September 1980) is a Malian photographer from Bamako.

Education In 2002, after spending nine months at the Centre de Formation Audiovisuel Promo-Femmes training center in Bamako, Diabaté continued her studies at the Centre de Formation en Photographie de Bamako (CFP), which aims to professionalize Malian photographers. She was given a two-week internship there. Later, she was spotted for her motivation and talent, then retained and trained for two more years. Her studies gave her the opportunity to improve her skills in black-and-white silver gelatin photography and to participate in many workshops in Mali, as well as abroad.

Career Diabaté has participated in several group and individual exhibitions and has earned a number of awards, notably the Prix Afrique, given by the Association française d'action artistique following the 2005 Rencontres africaines de la photographie biennial, Bamako, where she took the Afrique en Créations prize for her work Touaregs, en gestes et en mouvements. which she has used inside a portable studio/installation in her project Studio Photo de la Rue, to create staged scenes for her subjects, also a nod to the work of the masters of African studio photography noted above. She works in analog photographic processes, both black and white and color. . Photographing the Social Body: Malian Portraiture from the Studio to the Street (30 March 2012 – 18 May 2012), Carleton College Perlman Teaching Museum, Northfield, Minnesota. Bamako Photo in Paris (4 October 2013 – 7 December 2013), Pavillon Carré de Baudoin, Paris. The Night Belongs to Us / A nous la nuit (10 October 2013 – 1 December 2013), Galerie d'art Marabouparken, Sundbyberg. Bamako – Dakar (19 September 2014 – 23 November 2014), Stadthaus Ulm, Ulm. Femme photographe (6 December 2014 – 6 May 2015), Hôtel Onomo Dakar Airport, Dakar. New African Photography III (4–6 May 2018), Red Hook Labs, Brooklyn

Selected awards 2005: Prix Afrique prize from the French Association for Artistic Action (AFAA) for her project Touaregs, en gestes et en mouvements. 2005: Afrique en Créations prize for Touaregs, en gestes et en mouvements. 2011: Blachère Foundation prize for her work entitled The Animal in Man.