A Spanish visual artist of Andalusian descent whose work over more than three decades has been deeply connected to Mali and, in particular, Timbuktu. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts of San Fernando at the Complutense University of Madrid (1991), she has developed a research-based artistic practice that explores cultural memory, the legacy of Al-Andalus in the Sahel through Sudano-Sahelian architecture — particularly the work of the Andalusian architect Es Saheli — and the resilience and knowledge of the women of Timbuktu.
Since her first journey to Mali in 1989, López de Castro has centered her painting, drawing, and travel notebooks on the Niger River and Timbuktu as symbolic and cultural axes. Through her many journeys to the Sahel, she affirms that she has learned as much as she has created. What she calls The Dream of Timbuktu reflects a timeless human aspiration shared by travelers across history: the search for knowledge that sometimes leads us far from home, only to discover that in distance and in history we uncover unexpected connections — and, ultimately, a deeper understanding of our true selves.
Her work builds bridges between Europe and the Sahel, contributing to intercultural dialogue and the preservation of intangible and architectural heritage. She has presented over thirty solo exhibitions internationally, including at the National Museum of Mali in Bamako, Casa Árabe in Madrid, the Instituto Cervantes in Rome, and Casa África in Las Palmas.
Author of Memories of the Niger River: The Dream of Timbuktu (2022), published in four languages, she combines artistic creation with cultural leadership, curatorial projects, and collaborations with Malian artists and women’s associations. In 2025, she was officially invited by the Minister of Culture of Mali to participate in the Forum International of Civilizations within the Biennale Artistique et Culturelle de Tombouctou, in recognition of her longstanding commitment to Malian art and culture
Major Individual Exhibitions
El Sueño de Tombuctú / The Dream of Timbuktu (2024 Granada - 2025 Málaga–present)
Long-term artistic research project exploring the intellectual and architectural legacy of Al-Andalus in the Sahel, with particular focus on Abu Ishaq al-Sahili (Es Saheli) and Sudano-Sahelian architecture and Andalusian travelers to Timbuktu.
Tombuctú es nombre de Mujer / Timbuktu Is a Woman’s Name (2025 Canarias–present)
Artistic project recognizing the historical and cultural role of women in Islamic West African intellectual history.
Donne del Sahel / Sahel Women / Mujeres del Sahel (2021- Casa Arabe Madrid- 2023 Instituto Cervantes Roma–present)
Guardianas de Tombuctú / Guardians of Timbuktu (2021 Barcelona)
Au cœur du Mali / Il cuore del Mali 2017-2018 Bamako/Florence- Musée national Mali, Spanish Embassy
Mujeres de Tombuctú / Timbuktu Women: 2019 Fine Arts Museum Córdoba)
L’Or du Mali – (2011 Sibman Gallery, Place des Vosges, Paris, France)
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In Au bord du fleuve Niger, I wanted to paint more than just a scene; I wanted to paint the soul of the river. The Niger is the lifeblood of Mali, and there is a specific, golden silence that settles over its banks during the heat of the day.
I work with mixed media because the landscape itself is tactile—the dust, the mud, and the water are all intertwined. By layering the canvas, I try to capture that thick, hazy atmosphere where the sky and the water seem to merge into one. The figures you see—the women washing, the fishermen in their pirogues—are small in the vastness of the landscape, yet they are the pulse of it. This piece is my tribute to that enduring tranquility; it is an invitation to stand on the bank, feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, and witness the quiet, beautiful continuity of a life shaped by the flow of the water