Harandane Dicko was born in Tonka, in the Timbuktu Region of Mali. After studying social sciences, Dicko joined the Cadre de Promotion pour la Formation en Photographie de Bamako and, in 2002, he participated in his first training course in association with the Newspaper Der Landbote in Winterthur, Switzerland. From 2006–2008, he undertook residencies at the Centre for Cultural Production (PROGR) in Bern, Switzerland, and the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Also in 2008, Dicko took part in an international residency organised by Afrique in Visu at La Métive in France.

Dicko has been featured in several international solo and group exhibitions, such as the 6th, 7th and 8th Rencontres de Bamako, the African Biennial of Photography, in Bamako, Mali. While in 2008, he was the winner of the CulturesFrance visa programme, he also won the first African photography competition organised by the Andalusian Centre of Photography in Almeria, and the African Film Festival in Tarifa, both in Spain.