Paris exhibition pays homage to the late Malian photographer, Malick Sidibe

Record ID: 1104700

  • Title: Paris exhibition pays homage to the late Malian photographer, Malick Sidibe
  • Date: 23rd February 2018
  • Summary: VISITORS AT THE EXHIBITION INFORMATION ON A WALL ABOUT SIDIBE'S LIFE
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2018 12:32
  • Keywords: Malick Sidibe exhibition photography paris mali art
  • Location: FEBRUARY 20, 2018
  • City: FEBRUARY 20, 2018
  • Country: Cameroon
  • Topics: Art,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA00383RU91Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Cartier Foundation is paying tribute to Malian photographer Malick Sidibe with an exhibition of his work titled "Mali Twist" in Paris.
    The collection looks back through 260 unpublished works and archives and curators say it is the largest collection of vintage prints from the artist ever assembled.
    Sidibe, who died on April 14, 2016 at the age of 90 is considered one of the fathers of African photography, alongside Seydou Keïta, a great Malian portraitist.
    In 2003, Sidibe was the first African to receive the Hasselblad Photography Award, before being awarded the Golden Lion of Honor at the 2007 Venice Biennale.
    He was born in Soloba, a village south of Bamako near the Guinean border, to a Fulani family in 1936.
    In 1962, the self-taught photographer opened "Studio Malick" in the Bagadadji district of Bamako.
    Sidibe's instantly recognizable images from the 1950s and 60s of sharply dressed teenagers twisting on night-club dance floors or posing for the camera captured Mali's transformation from a French colony to a modern independent nation.
    "Studio Malick is a studio that Malick Sidibe opened in 1962, in the neihgbourhood of Bagadadji, which is also known as Bagdad neighbourhood in Bamako. It has become a place where people from all works of life visit, young people, people who worked in the neighbourhood and so on, “said Juan Luque, assistant curator of the exhibition.
    A mobile photo studio was recreated as part of the exhibition to give visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of Sidibe's creative space.
    "We were taking pictures with accessories as if we were in the studio of Malick Sidibe," said Coline Janota.
    "I think that it is a great idea, I find it playful and then it gave us a chance to put ourselves in the photographer's shoes by taking pictures of visitors and also we play the models as well, "said Isabelle Tanais.
    Sidibe shattered stereotypes of Africa and connected it with the rest of the world.
    The Paris exhibition also featured various pieces that contributed to his fame: "Fans of James Brown" and "Christmas Night," which was named one of the 100 most influential photographs in history by Time magazine.
    "When I see them dance, for example, it really gives me a picture of how they were living at the time and of the festive atmosphere, the partying. The clothes are also very representative of the time, “said Peggy Camus, a visitor at the exhibition.
    "This is perhaps the first exhibition of an African artist that I have seen here in France and it must go on. The photos are remind me of an innocent period, very cheerful, very simple, I like them a lot, “said Luc Toulotte, another visitor.
    Sidibe's work has inspired many African artists.
    Thirty four-year-old Malian photographer Bintou Camara remembers the artist who also lived in the same neighborhood as her family. Sidibe went on to become her teacher at the Photography Training Center and inspired her choice of the black and white style for her own work.
    "I always had the pleasure of doing his prints, to see them develop and to see his photos. In any case, his pictures gave me even more love, I already loved black and white pictures, but because of Malick Sidibe, I fell even more in love with black and white photography," she said.
    Camara says Sidibe's work is a nostalgic reminder of easier, carefree days.
    "Today's Bamako people are in a hurry, they don't have time to enjoy themselves as they want. At the time of Malick Sidibe, people did not think to live in their comfort, now everyone wants to be rich, everyone has something else on their minds and it's not to have fun," she added.
    Sidibe meticulously archived his photographs and he had already accumulated a sizeable body of work when his art began gaining international recognition in the 1990s, a period when Malian painters and musicians were also breaking out.
    His images have since been exhibited around the world.
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