Opium Paris’s ‘Jordan’ campaign reveals the emergence of a culture emancipated from the construction of knowledge.
Opium Paris’s recent ‘Jordan’ campaign has certainly not gone unnoticed. Originally conceived for a Parisian audience with a passion for trainers, it quickly transcended the boundaries that had been set for it.
Through a striking visual language, it bears witness to a rapidly evolving space for creative expression – revealing the growing influence of young African and diaspora creatives on the way African identities are imagined, narrated and staged.
The first instalment of a trilogy, Episode 1: ‘ROOTS’, stood out for the richness and subtlety of its interpretation of representation. Conceived as an ode to personal roots, the homeland, women’s agency and ritual, the campaign moves away from a singular image of African identity towards a more diverse and intimate narrative of belonging.
Directed by Madior Ndiaye, a young Franco-Senegalese creative director collaborating with Opium Paris – the official Parisian partner of several trainers brands, including Nike and Adidas – the campaign is driven by a desire to tell “ stories that matter” .
In doing so, it becomes more than just an advertising exercise. It can be seen as a form of digital education: the transmission of cultural knowledge through a contemporary visual language – part of a broader movement towards self-determination amongst African creators, who are now asserting themselves as emancipated actors in the construction of knowledge.
At the heart of this process lies what Madior describes as the emergence of a ‘ third culture ’ : a space of cultural fusion where different cultural references, geographies, generations and lived experiences meet, overlap and ultimately produce something new.
Photo: Moïse Luzolo
Madior’s creative manifesto
Madior Ndiaye’s creative philosophy owes as much to his multicultural heritage as to a professional career that has enabled him to develop within fashion and a diverse range of creative industries.
His career began traditionally: he studied at business school while working as a model to finance his education. He then joined Nike, before going freelance and beginning to collaborate with Opium Paris, founded by Franco-Moroccan creatives. This initial collaboration gradually evolved and became a long-term partnership: Madior became creative director and forged a genuine bond with the founders and the team.
From these diverse experiences emerged a unique creative approach that addresses a brand’s challenges and needs whilst remaining deeply connected to the people directly involved in the stories it helps to tell.
Madior Ndiaye sums up his approach with his own slogan: ‘La Vision Claire’ . It conveys a specific intention: to place those directly involved at the heart of the narrative.
“The formula that has guided my work from the outset is the combination of branding, cultural knowledge and understanding, and my personal creativity.
It has enabled me to act as a bridge between a brand’s vision and the reality of the people it seeks to reach. I am immersed in this culture: I go out, I meet people, I go to parties, I live and participate in this culture. I can therefore create campaigns that are relevant both to the brand and to the people they are aimed at.”
His creative philosophy is also heavily inspired by the concept of Middle Ground – a notion that emerged in the UK in the context of industrial decline, originally referring to derelict sites that are being redeveloped and reinvented. Over time, the concept has moved beyond its original, strictly physical meaning to refer to spaces where people come together: places where different worlds intersect, connect and create the conditions necessary for the emergence of new ideas, new cultures and new forms of innovation.
Cultural understanding
The Middle Ground lies between the ‘ upper ground ’ – the realm of established institutions, governments and major international brands – and the ‘ underground ’, where young artists, cultural innovators and technological pioneers experiment outside established frameworks and give rise to new forms of expression.
It is precisely in this in-between space that Madior Ndiaye situates his own practice. As he explains:
‘I applied this concept to the fashion campaigns I was working on by asking myself a simple question: is there a Middle Ground in the world of fashion branding?
This question has guided my work ever since.
I’ve worked in the corporate world, alongside major brands. I understand their challenges, their budgets, how they operate and their language. At the same time, I’m part of Paris’s creative and artistic youth scene. This allows me to speak to both worlds and build a bridge between them.”
For Madior Ndiaye, cultural understanding is the starting point for any creative process. It is the foundation upon which the visual world is built: without a cultural anchor, the image remains hollow.
“Everything I create begins with cultural ‘insights’. I start by observing which cultural elements resonate with me and on which the campaign will be based. From there, I develop a creative concept, then a message. Only then do I put together a mood board and begin to visualise the images. Until I know what cultural foundation I’m building on, I can’t really move forward. »
Beyond the Court: Roots, rituals and self-construction
At the heart of the campaign is Poupie, originally from Mali, a former professional basketball player and co-founder of @icanplay. She dribbles whilst four women – Hélène, Brigitte, Annie and Mame Bousso – plait her loose hair.
The image immediately evokes memories of several dimensions of the Afrocentric cultural experience: the act of braiding, almost like an umbilical cord linking the athlete’s public image to ritual, to ancestral continuity and to that embodied knowledge that precedes recognition and success.
Photo: Moïse Luzolo
Anchoring one’s identity
This image ties in with the concept of ‘ Shadow Work ’ : doubt, insecurity, fear of failure and introspection – that internal, invisible work which silently shapes who we become but which often remains unseen. Shadow Work is thus rooted in a cultural context that precedes the image and gives it meaning, rather than in a creative concept devised specifically for the campaign. From this reflection emerged the campaign’s creative concept, ‘Commitment Beyond Court’ ( commitment beyond the court ) – an invitation to question who we are beyond performance, and more specifically the culture and heritage that form the backbone of the athlete.
“This is where I make the connection with cultural references. I work using a funnel-like approach: shadow work can mean many things, but I’ve chosen to approach it from an Afro-diasporic perspective, focusing on an interpretation that truly resonates with me,” explains Madior Ndiaye.
This reflection is embodied in a visual approach that brings together elements which would rarely be expected to coexist within the same space-time framework. The designer explains:
“When you’re training for basketball, you don’t have your hair braided at the same time. They are two completely distinct moments. Having your hair done is an intimate moment of sharing with the women in your family – a spiritual experience – which helps shape your identity. The court, by contrast, is a space for concentration and performance. Bringing these two worlds together conveys a message: if I perform well on the court, it’s also because I’m grounded in my identity and my culture.”
The idea of roots runs through the entire cinematography of the campaign. Poupie appears as an athlete whose strength and success are deeply rooted in her heritage. The hours spent having her hair plaited, making herself look beautiful whilst surrounded by women, thus become the invisible yet essential element that underpins her performance on the pitch.
Maternal figures
The women who style Poupie’s hair – the ‘tantines’ – wear traditional, handcrafted bazin garments, made in Mali using a traditional tie-dyeing process. Yet, on their feet, one notices a pair of Jordans.
The contrast is particularly striking precisely because it seems natural: the tantines remain firmly rooted in their role within African femininity whilst being portrayed as fully part of the present: elegant, contemporary, and reflective of an emerging culture that is increasingly helping to shape African and diasporic identities.
The fact that they are wearing the same trainers as the basketball player also conveys a subtle message of solidarity: ‘we are here with you’ . The image thus says something about the product itself: the trainer becomes a shared object, accessible across generations.
When the creative director talks about what this image symbolises for him, he turns to the women themselves:
“The ladies themselves gave us the answer as to how to interpret this image. On set, they were all very proud to be wearing Nikes, feeling beautiful, respected and valued.
I used to joke with them: “ Now your children won’t be able to say a thing to you. You’ve got Nikes, you’re more stylish than them !’ And they’d reply: ‘ But Madior, you know we’re grannies! ’ So I called them the Star Grannies on set.
Little by little, they started saying that they, too, had the right to wear Jordans. In the end, it was they who gave us the different ways of interpreting this image.’
Madior Ndiaye also emphasises that the presence of maternal figures in the campaign is a tribute to those who have all too often been rendered invisible in narratives and representations. Yet, as their presence in the images suggests, these maternal figures play an essential role in shaping our societies and our identities.
This approach to incorporating African cultural references into contemporary fashion is also part of a broader creative tradition. Madior specifically cites Youssouf Fofana, founder of Maison Château Rouge, as one of the figures who helped shape his vision.
He recalls Fofana’s collaboration with Jordan in 2019, which incorporated African cultural references and the lived reality of Paris’s Château Rouge into the language of the Air Jordan 1. The images accompanying the campaign notably featured tantines dressed in traditional boubous and wearing Jordans.
Photo: Moïse Luzolo
The emergence of a third culture
“I am also the child of people like Youssouf Fofana, who showed us that we could tell our stories in our own way. It is because people like him opened certain doors that today we, in turn, can tell these stories according to our own codes and our own perspective. I aim to be able to do the same for the generations that will come after us. Those who can understand this language are all heirs to these transformations.”
The symbolism of the campaign is also evident in its soundscape. The soundtrack is built around a sample featuring Salaman , Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko, allowing the soft, hypnotic sound of the kora to pay homage to its West African roots, whilst the voices of the ‘tanties’, recorded during filming, are layered over the music.
Madior Ndiaye explains: “The intention was to create a soundscape that invites introspection – something almost ethereal, yet also deeply metaphorical.”
The way in which the campaign has resonated far beyond its original context reveals a dynamic that goes well beyond the question of representation. It reveals the crystallisation of what Madior calls a ‘ third culture ’ – a space where references travel, intersect, respond to one another and give rise to something new. African heritage, European urban culture, American basketball, fashion, music and diaspora experiences converge into a visual language that transcends geographical boundaries without ever losing its roots.
“If you think about it, basketball is, at its core, an American sport. Of course, it’s now played all over the world, but historically and culturally, it originated in the United States.”
Beyond symbolism
Yet a young person playing basketball in Mali can identify with this representation, just as an American basketball player can, though each will project a different experience and interpretation onto it. This is precisely what I mean when I talk about the ‘third culture’
This is why I say that, through this blending of cultures, elements and references, we are creating a third culture. It is a hybrid culture. And I am part of this blending and this phenomenon.”
Madior sees this development as part of a broader transformation in the relationship between Africa and Europe.
“In Europe, we have gradually gained the humility to recognise that, unlike previous generations, our brothers and sisters on the continent also have a great deal to teach us and pass on to us. For their part, many young people on the African continent have also freed themselves from a certain complex that was historically ingrained.
Today they say: “ We, too, have our place in this space, and we can co-create with them .”
In the past, there was a certain sense of shame associated with returning home, whilst on the other hand, there were also many prejudices. But these barriers are gradually disappearing. To move things forward, we now realise that we need one another. And if we build together, it makes sense. The link between the children of the diaspora and young people on the continent is essential for showcasing our stories and our cultures.”
Photo: Moïse Luzolo
Who is behind the camera?
For decades, African cultural references in the media and communications have been defined by what some have described as a ‘franchise logic’ ; a model in which dominant media and cultural industries appropriate African symbols, aesthetics and narratives without necessarily consulting those who hold the authority to define their meaning.
What is emerging today amongst a growing generation of African creators and those from the diaspora signals a shift towards autonomy, reflecting a genuine capacity to decide, interpret and tell their own stories. As part of this paradigm shift, Madior emphasises that this transformation cannot be limited to what is depicted on screen: it must take place in a more comprehensive way, through the selection of all the elements and participants involved in the creation of the entire project.
‘Every detail is a form of representation.’
I portray the aunts as they are in their everyday lives. One of them is a hairdresser in real life. They’re grandmothers. I place them in situations that are familiar to them, within their own everyday reality. We don’t ask them to play absurd roles or artificially remove them from their world. It’s precisely this approach that makes the campaign authentic and allows us to develop the narratives.
Of course, certain elements may spark debate, such as the fact that they’re wearing Jordans. But I never take them out of context. If I put them in the spotlight, I want to do so in a truly ‘mindful’ way.
If we really want to transform representations at their root, we can’t just act in front of the camera, but also behind it. For this campaign, the bazins were produced and designed in Mali. The fashion designer is Black, the set designer is Black, the photographer is Black, and the director is Black, originally from the Congo.”
This approach highlights the importance of an initiative driven by the participants themselves, capable of bringing forth new cultural codes that reshape the creative infrastructures through which narratives are produced. It is no longer simply a matter of integrating African symbols into existing frameworks, but of moving beyond the language of ‘inclusivity’ to question who holds the power to define narratives, who is involved in formulating the questions asked, and what forms of knowledge are recognised as such.
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When Africa tells its story through fashion
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