Dominique Zinkpé was born in 1969 in Cotonou, Benin.Dominique Zinkpè is arguably one of the most recognizable contemporary artists to emerge from Benin. He is a versatile self-taught artist, producing drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations. His vivid paintings and drawings are both intimate and revealing, often denouncing injustice and hypocrisy. Beginning at an early age, Zinkpè’s artistic skill was rewarded early on when he won the Young African Talent Prize at the 1993 Grapholies Art Festival in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Ten years later, during the Dak’art Biennial of Contemporary Art held in the Senegalese capital, he received the prestigious UEMOA Prize for his installation Malgré Tout !. Active and politically aware, Zinkpè developed “Boulev’art: Artists in the Street” in 1999, a project that seeks to bring the work of local contemporary artists to wider attention. Since its creation, six subsequent manifestations of this public rally have taken place in Benin and France. Moreover, in an effort to share his artistic knowledge with others, Zinkpè founded the Ayïzo – Œuvre de l’Esprit association in 1999, which has since opened the "Unik-lieu de création contemporaine", an artistic space to train and promote contemporary artists. It is also with this goal in mind that Zinkpè assumed his duties as event organizer of the 2010 Benin Biennial.