Penda Diakité

Diakité was born in 1992 in Portland, Oregon to artists Baba Wagué Diakité (ceramicist and author) and Ronna Neuenschwander (sculptor). She grew up between the United States and Mali, West Africa where she spent much of her time in her parents’ art studio creating alongside them and learning West African history and traditional Malian arts such as bogolanfini.

At age 11 she published her first children’s book, I Lost My Tooth In Africa with Scholastic Press which was later featured on Reading Rainbow. Her storytelling quickly merged into film and she spent her adolescent years studying and creating film under her Oregon-based mentor, documentary filmmaker William Donker.

She later studied film and video at California Institute of the Arts (2010-2014) and received a Bachelor in Fine Arts with a minor in Cultural Studies.  

Diakité moved to Los Angeles in 2016, establishing her career in the Arts.

In 2018 Diakité had her first major art show, 'Made in America', at the Substrate Gallery in Los Angeles.^[1]

Diakité is best known for her mixed-media collage work, often studies of female figures made from compositing images depicting African history, popular media’s portrayal of black people, race and gender constructs. She has also produced documentary and experimental works in film and video which exhibited in festivals throughout the world. Her film works center around the same themes of West African history, race and gender constructs.

• Mousso-Ya (Womanhood), Band Of Vices Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (November, 2021)
• Diary of a White Black Girl, Nych Gallery, Chicago, IL (May 2021)
• The Cutting Edge, Rogue Gallery, Medford, OR (September 2021)
• Made In America, Substrate Gallery, (Sponsored by The Dean Collection), Los Angeles, CA (2018)
• Adama-den: Humankind, Guardino Gallery; Portland, OR (2018)
• Reflection: Hakili Jagabo, Organic Modernism; Los Angeles, CA (2018)

• Words From A Silence, film gallery Schräge; Kassel, Germany (2017)
• Words From A Silence and Diary of Reflection, RACC’s Night Life: Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest; Portland, OR (2016)
• Words From A Silence and Diary of Reflection, 22nd Annual African American Marketplace Festival; Los Angeles, CA (2016)
• Words From A Silence, San Diego Underground Film Festival; San Diego, CA (2016) 
• Words From A Silence, ‘Video Guerrilha Campinas’; São Paulo, Brazil (2015)
• Diary of Reflection, Afro Punk Fest; Brooklyn, NY (2015)
• Words From A Silence, Diary of Reflection, Striped, Un Monde de Femmes, Bombs are Toys, in ‘Attaquer Le Visible’ at La Mutinerie; Paris, France (2015)
• Words From A Silence, Positivus Festival; N Latvia, Salacgriva (2015)
• Words From A Silence, Ann Arbor Film Festival Expanding Frames Panel Series; Ann Arbor, MI (2015)
• Words From A Silence, 25th Cascade Festival of African Films; Portland, OR (2015)
• Words From A Silence, Roy and Edna Disney RedCat Theater; Los Angeles, CA (2015)
• Tanti’s Winter Vacation, Roy and Edna Disney RedCat Theater; Los Angeles, CA (2013)
• Diary of Reflection, Riverside International Film Festival; Riverside, CA (2013)
• Un Monde de Femmes, Riverside International Film Festival; Riverside, CA (2013)
• Tanti’s Winter Vacation, 23rd Cascade Festival of African Films; Portland, OR (2013)
• Diary of Reflection, Roy and Edna Disney RedCat Theater; Los Angeles, CA (2012)
• Welcome to Mali, 16th Cascade Festival of African Films; Portland, OR (2008)

• The Dean Collection 20 Artists Award, (The Dean Collection, founded by Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean and Alicia Keys)
• BETAir Artist in Residency, Black Entertainment Television
• Children’s Africana Book Award, Best Book for Young Children
• Best Book for Young Children ALA Notable Children’s Book
• The Monarch Award; Illinois K-3 Children’s Choice Award
• Notable Book in Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English Conference in Nashville, TN
• Featured Book of the Month; Read On Wisconsin 2006 New York Public Library list of
• New York Public Library list of “100 Titles for Reading and Sharing”