Penda Diakité Awarded Art Grant from Swizz Beatz & Alicia Keys

Portland native Penda Diakité is the recipient of a Dean Collection St(ART)up Grant, a new art grant launched by husband and wife team Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys.

The new initiative received thousands of submissions from artists across the world, and a curatorial team of more than a dozen people selected 20 artists, each of whom will received $5,000.

Penda Diakité and her father Baba Wagué Diakité (Photo by Authors in Africa, Nov. 22, 2012)Penda Diakité is the daughter of Baba Wagué Diakité and Ronna Neuenschwander, both Portland-based artists. Penda grew up in Portland, with biannual stays in Mali (her father’s home country) since she was a young child. She presently lives in Los Angeles, where she focuses on professional pursuits in art and film, and runs the art-inspired fashion line, Pendawear.

Diakité plans to use her award to produce a show in Los Angeles this October. Prior to that, she will have an exhibition of her collage paintings at Guardino Gallery, running through Sept. 25, 2018.