Mali’s rich and culturally diverse society has heavily influenced the work of Bamako-based artist Abdoulaye Konaté. Konaté’s introduction to the arts was at the Institut National des Arts in Bamako, where he studied painting, and then further, at the Instituto Superior des Arte, in Havana, Cuba. Upon returning to Mali in 1985, Konaté began to make the transition from working in paint to working in textile, and from figurative to abstract.

His large-scale textiles are created using local Malian fabrics. Traditionally woven and dyed by women, these colourful cloths are customarily used in ceremony and play an important role in the identity politics of the region and the diaspora. Abdoulaye Konaté’s work capitalizes on the duality of global vs. local, tackling international geopolitical issues using traditional and locally made fabrics. Konaté dives into contemporary dialogue, with a firm grip on his local culture and honoring the traditional usage of these fabrics as a ceremonial and narrative tool.

The present work is no.5 in the artist’s Gris-Gris Blanc series, a collects ion of works referencing the Gris-Gris, which are dangling charms or amulets sewn onto traditional hunting tunics. Tasked with protecting the hunter, these charms are also representative of the broader customs and culture of Konaté’s people. Executed in a serene yet powerful shade of white, No.5 Gris-Gris Blanc stands in contrast to many of Abdoulaye Konaté’s more colourful pieces created later in his career.

Founding Director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia Balla Fasséké Kouyaté in Bamako, Konaté is dedicated to the education of younger generations. The artist has been exhibited at prominent locations around the world such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He is the recipient of several prominent awards and accolades, including the prestigious Léopold Sédar Senghor Prize at the Dak’Art Biennale in Dakar (1996). Major group shows include Africa Remix, whose international tour included the Centre Pompidou, Paris and Hayward Gallery, London (2004-2007) and Documenta 12 (2007), Kassel and The Divine Comedy, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory revisited by Contemporary African Artists at the Frankfurt Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2014), SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah Georgia (2014-2015) and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. (2015), amongst many others.