Born and currently living in Dakar, Solly Cissé is one of the most highly considered artists from Senegal. He is a sculptor, photographer, and video producer, but is best known as a contemporary mixed-media painter. Cissé graduated from l'École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Dakar in 1996. His paintings are influenced by the politically unstable environment in which he grew up, and often express ange