Delphine Diallo Brings The Mythic Quest to ADAMA, Reimagining the Black Female Gaze in the Age of AI
French-Senegalese artist Delphine Diallo brings photography, collage, moving image, and artificial intelligence together in The Mythic Quest, challenging traditional representations of Black women and pushing the boundaries of contemporary visual storytelling.
ATLANTA — For generations, Black women have been photographed, documented and interpreted through someone else’s gaze. What happens when they control the image, and when artists gain entirely new tools for creating it?
This fall, the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) welcomes French-Senegalese visual artist Delphine Diallo and her first solo museum exhibition, The Mythic Quest, opening Friday, September 18, 2026.
At a moment when artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how images are created, consumed and understood, Diallo brings a powerful female voice to the conversation. Working across photography, collage, moving image and AI, her practice challenges traditional approaches to visual storytelling while examining identity, power, spirituality, transformation and the representation of Black women.
For Diallo, technology does not replace the artist. It becomes another tool for imagination.
Her innovative use of artificial intelligence builds upon a practice already deeply invested in questioning who creates images, who has historically controlled them and how visual culture shapes the way we understand ourselves and one another. By placing emerging technology in conversation with photography, mythology, spirituality and the Black female body, Diallo uses AI to expand the visual worlds she creates and imagine possibilities beyond the limitations of the existing image.
The Mythic Quest traces that evolution across six series of work, moving from portraits of women with whom Diallo has developed long-term, reciprocal relationships to self-portraiture and, ultimately, images created using artificial intelligence.
Central to the exhibition is Diallo’s examination of the Black female body and its place within the history of photography. Her work rejects the exploitative and extractive traditions that have historically shaped representations of women’s bodies. Instead, Diallo presents the body as a site of autonomy, resilience, spirituality and power.
Inspired by Joseph Campbell’s concept of “The Hero’s Journey,” The Mythic Quest also traces Diallo’s own journey of discovery and transformation. Through the exhibition, she considers what it means to leave, question, transform and ultimately return with a new way of seeing.
The result is a visual language centered on what Diallo describes as a universal female gaze, one that asks audiences to reconsider not only how Black women are represented, but who has the authority to imagine what those representations can become.
Born in Paris in 1977, Delphine Diaw Diallo is a French-Senegalese visual artist whose work explores the relationship between image, consciousness and cultural narrative. After studying visual arts at the Académie Charpentier, she began her career as a visual designer and motion graphic artist in the music industry before moving to New York and dedicating herself fully to photography.
Across her career, Diallo has developed a visual practice that merges documentary precision with symbolism, mythology and experimentation. Her portraits and self-portraits move beyond traditional representation to create images that explore Black womanhood through strength, agency and spiritual consciousness.
ADAMA Celebrates The Mythic Quest With a Full Opening Weekend
ADAMA will welcome Diallo to Atlanta with a weekend of art, community and conversation, giving audiences multiple opportunities to experience the exhibition and engage with the artist.
The celebration begins Friday, September 18 from 6–8 p.m. with the official opening reception for The Mythic Quest. Diallo will be in attendance, offering guests a special opportunity to experience the exhibition in the presence of the artist.
On Saturday, September 19 from 12–5 p.m., the museum will open for regular gallery hours, inviting visitors to return, spend time with the work and experience the exhibition at their own pace.
The weekend culminates Sunday, September 20 from 2–3 p.m. with the return of the ADAMA Arts Salon, kicking off a new season of intimate conversations centered on art, culture and the African diaspora. The season's first Salon will feature a conversation with Diallo, taking audiences deeper into her artistic practice, her experimentation with AI and the ideas and experiences that shaped The Mythic Quest.
Together, The Mythic Quest and its opening weekend invite Atlanta into a timely conversation about representation, authorship and technology: Who controls the image? Who gets to determine how Black women are seen? And as the tools of visual storytelling evolve, what new possibilities emerge when Black women are among those using them to imagine the future?
Delphine Diallo: The Mythic Quest opens September 18, 2026, at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta, 352 University Ave. SW, Atlanta, GA 30310.
ABOUT DELPHINE DIALLO
Delphine Diaw Diallo is a French-Senegalese visual artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans photography, collage, moving image and artificial intelligence. Her work explores the relationship between image, consciousness and cultural narrative while challenging historical representations of Black women. Through documentary precision, symbolism and experimentation, Diallo creates visual archetypes that examine identity, spirituality, transformation and the possibilities of the female gaze.
ABOUT THE AFRICAN DIASPORA ART MUSEUM OF ATLANTA
The African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) is a registered 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to showcasing contemporary art and culture of the African diaspora. Through exhibitions, public programming, artist-centered experiences and community engagement, ADAMA creates space for audiences to encounter the breadth, complexity and global influence of the African diaspora.
MEDIA CONTACT
African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta
352 University Ave. SW
Atlanta, GA 30310
comms@adamatl.org
