Simon Njami lives in France. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Revue Noire magazine. Njami has been the artistic director of the Bamako Photography Biennale since 2001, and was the first curator (with Fernando Alvim) of the Africa pavilion at the 52nd Biennial of Venice (2007).

Njami has curated various exhibitions of African art and photography, such as Africa Remix. The Contemporary Art of a Continent (2004-2007) and the first African Art Fair, held in Johannesburg in 2008. In 2010 Njami was involved as a co-curator of the SUD2010 project in Doulala (Cameroon) and curated the exhibition A Useful Dream. African Photography 1960-2010 at the Center for Fine Arts in Brussels (Belgium).