Aziz N’Diaye: From Recycled Materials to Public Art

Born in Thiès, Senegal, in 1977, Aziz N’Diaye is a self-taught artist influenced by Ousmane Sy aka Frank and Moussa Tine. He works mainly with recycled and everyday materials, creating painted objects and figures that address subjects including youth, climate change and conflicts. He lives and works in Thiès and also collaborates with the Manufactures Sénégalaises des Arts Décoratifs (MSAD).

[Photo 1: Aziz N'Diaye with Alfredo Cuomo at the Sene'Gala, Hôtel de Paris, 21 November 2008 - Monaco | Photo 2: Aziz N'Diaye with Maria Elena Cuomo in Dakar - 14 June 2015]

N’Diaye’s international work includes his participation in Sene’Gala, a charity art event that the Cuomo Foundation organised in Monaco in 2008. He was among the Senegalese ten contemporary artists selected by Kalidou Kassé, founder of Atelier du Sahel. It was through this event that N’Diaye’s work met Alfredo and Maria Elena Cuomo, founders of the Cuomo Foundation.

[The Sene'Gala, Hôtel de Paris, 21 November 2008 - Monaco]

[The participating Senegalese artists' table - the Sene'Gala, Hôtel de Paris, 21 November 2008 - Monaco]

[Alfredo Cuomo, Maria Elena Cuomo and Kalidou Kassé, president of the Sene'Gala jury with the participating Senegalese artists' - the Sene'Gala, Hôtel de Paris, 21 November 2008 - Monaco]

They commissioned several works from him, including a commemorative award for Monaco’s 2014 No Finish Line event. Three of his works are also among the Foundation’s collection. 

In 2016, Groupe D-10, the group of artists who attended the Sene’Gala, was commissioned to create murals, sculptures and installations at the Cuomo Cardio-Paediatric Centre in Dakar.

[Aziz N'Diaye's works on display at the Itinéraires artistiques de Saint-Louis exhibition, Saint-Louis, Senegal - May 2024]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, N’Diaye created a painting to honour the healthcare staff at the cardiac centre that was unveiled in April 2021 during a ceremony attended by Maria Elena Cuomo, Philanthropist and President of the Cuomo Foundation.

[Maria Elena Cuomo with Aziz N'Diaye and his family in Dakar, 16 February 2017]

In 2022, he created an artwork for the MSAD in Thiès, on behalf of the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal. The painting, which marks the celebrations for ‘Armed Forces Day’, was unveiled on 11 November 2022 to the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr Macky Sall. The work follows on from another painting that the artist had already produced last year for the same occasion.