A graduate from the Académie Charpentier School of Visual Art in Paris in 1999, Delphine Diallo worked in the music industry for seven years. Disillusioned by a world driven by mass consumption, she left her work environment and found refuge in Saint-Louis, Senegal, hometown of her father. Inspired by Malick Sidibé’s photo studio, the French-Senegalese photographer moved to New York in 2008 to pursue her artistic life, considering that Paris is not the right place for her practice to emerge.

In August 2010, she travelled to the Crow country. It opened her to a completely new world, and fresh direction for her work. She witnessed a progressive resistance among the Crow members to contemporary American values, giving impetus to a revival of their traditions and rituals. Diallo was amazed by their hospitality and their kindness, a very different experience from the negative image of Native Americans portrayed by the media. Besides the spirituality and symbolism of their dances, Diallo wanted to accentuate the importance of family ties. The elders recount stories to youngers, who leave their western clothes behind to dress like real Indians.