Younousse Sèye

In 2003, she co-founded the nonprofit art collective Le Collectif Artistes Plasticiens.

Decades later, in 2000, she collaborated again with Sembène, playing the lead role in Faat Kiné under the stage name Venus Seye.

She is best known for her appearances in several films by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène. She debuted in Mandabi, his first Wolof-language film, in 1968. She then portrayed Aram in Xala in 1974, with the film receiving significant international recognition.

When she was starting out as an artist, she participated as a staff member of the First World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar in 1966. Then, in 1969, having become established in the region's art world, she participated in the First Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers. There, she won a UNESCO grant for a residency anywhere she would like; eschewing Europe, she chose to study in the Ivory Coast. In 1972, following her residency, she had a solo exhibition at the Hôtel Ivoire in Abidjan. Her work was included in the government-sponsored touring exhibit Senegalese Art Today, which debuted in Paris in 1974. She was then invited to participate in the FESTAC 77 showcase.

Sèye was part of the first generation of Senegalese artists following the country's independence from France in 1960.

Younousse Sèye (born 1940) is a Senegalese artist and actress. Considered Senegal's first woman painter, she is best known for her mixed-media works incorporating cowrie shells. Having no formal training in either visual art or acting, she achieved success in the post-independence Dakar art scene and appeared in several major films by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène.

Younousse Sèye was born in 1940 in Saint-Louis, Senegal. She began painting as a teenager, receiving no formal training. However, she learned some techniques from her mother, who was a fabric-dyer. After studying stenography, she got married and moved to Dakar, where she worked as a secretary and cared for her young family.