Contact Malike
Email: malikes@ymail.com
Instagram: @malikesidibe
Alumni Profile: Malike Sidibe
Malike Sidibe is a 25-year-old photographer originally from the Ivory Coast who now calls New York City home. With a background enriched por his West African heritage, his work spans portraits, fashion, editorial, and commercial photography. Malike has gained global recognition for his emotive images documenting the Black Lives Matter movement, having worked with such notable clients as Time Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, the MET Museum, Nike, and Vanity Fair.
His journey in photography began at a young age and took him from the Ivory Coast through Guinea before settling in NYC at 13. In the city, Malike refined his craft and became a Nikon Ambassador, blending cultural influences with vibrant, surreal visual narratives. His striking technique captures movement and emotion, whether it’s a drifting silk scarf or a poised portrait that encapsulates the essence of his subjects.
Malike’s career has been further enriched by his participation in programs such as the NYC Salt High School Residency (2014–2015), NYC Salt Mentorship (2014–Present), and the NYC Salt Emerging Artist Program (2020–2023). His academic journey continued at Parson’s School of Design, where he honed his photographic vision.
In addition to numerous international recognitions – including awards from the Lucie Foundation and Time Magazine – Malike’s work has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as Blow Up Gallery in Amsterdam, ARTCURIAL in Paris, and Christie's Auction House in New York.
Fashion / Portraiture
- Major themes in my portraiture are movement and surreal visual-scapes. I love playing with the subjects, frozen still as if suspended in a dream, sometimes placing them deeply set within their environments, such as in my Mamiwata Series, or conversely, existing on their own plane, as if my lens had the power to suck the air out of the room. I’m especially focused on this technique when capturing a moving subject. A silk scarf swaying in harmony with a woman or pearls dancing from the cap of a seemingly still man, capture the traces of a subject who is most interesting in my eye when they are moving and in harmony with the space.
BLM Protests June 2020, NYC “Please Stop the Violence”
- A central goal of my documentary photography is to help different people demystify one another’s personhood through visual language. I grew up in West Africa in a community where I was surrounded by other people who looked like me and who were raised with the same traditions and values as I was.
Upon moving to New York City, the heterogenous make-up of my new community excited me, but slowly revealed some pitfalls. When people don’t look or think exactly the same as one another, they often begin to fear each other. At the onset of the Covid Pandemic in 2020, people the world over realized the value of human connection and that it cannot be taken for granted. We were forced to distance ourselves from one another and in this moment of craving connection, we witnessed the heinous murder of George Floyd by Officer Derek Chauvin. I viewed this murder as rooted in the fear of “otherness.” Chauvin, a white police officer, saw Floyd as a threat simply because he looked different. Floyd’s blackness stood in the way of Chauvin connecting with and respecting him as a fellow human. Tired of these misunderstandings, Black Americans and their allies took to the streets in protest: peaceful protest that was met with violence. I documented these protests for six months straight in an effort to show forces working for and against genuine “human connection.”
I believe the resulting “Black Lives Matter” series of photos to be my most important work to date. I hope these images express the pain that is experienced when there is a lack of human connection and mutual understanding. We must do better.
All Photographs are editioned and signed, printed on museum-grade 100% cotton fiber paper.
Press & Published Work
- Het Parool, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Jan. 2023
- Christie’s Auction House: Say It Loud, 2021
- Vanity Fair, 2020 – Spotlight on Malike as a photographer
- Time Magazine Top 100 Photos of the Year, 2020 – Three photos recognized
- New York Times Magazine, Best Performers Issue – Dec. 2020
- The New Yorker, 2020 – Protest coverage in Kenosha
- Time Magazine, June 2020 – George Floyd Protests
- The Washington Post, 2020 – Young Photographers Photograph Covid Protests
- Nikon Award Winner – Eddie Adams Workshop, 2018
- Nikon Corporation
- New York Times Magazine – June 2020 Cover on Police Reform
- Adobe Interview, 2018
- Bloomberg News, 2017
Awards & Recognitions
- The 30 New + Emerging Photographers to Watch – 2022
- Lucie Foundation Emerging Impact Award – 2020
- Time Magazine Top 10 Photos – 2020
- Time Magazine Top 100 Photos – 2020
- Photo District News Photo Annual Winner – 2020
- Nikon Award, Eddie Adams Workshop – 2017
- Heckscher Foundation Art Competition Winner – 2017
- Scholastic Gold & Silver Key Awards – 2015
