Malick Sidibé

Mali Twist offers an essential and immersive survey of the beloved African photographer Malick Sidibé—nicknamed “the eye of Bamako”—who chronicled the exuberant youth culture of his native Bamako, Mali, in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. The book is structured around his famous series: studio portraits in which young people pose alone or in groups, sometimes accompanied by quirky accessories; photographs of parties that radiate spontaneity and joy; and the comparatively lesser-known outdoor photography, depicting scenes at (for example) the edge of the Niger River, or at local swimming pools and villages. In addition to these iconic series, many previously unpublished photographs are gathered here, as well as archival documents. The series are punctuated by the authors’ texts, including testimony from friends of the photographer. With elegant paper changes and fabulous printing, this volume is a celebration of the postwar African vernacular.

Malick Sidibé (1935–2016) was born in Soloba, a small village in Mali. He opened the Malick Studio in 1962 in the heart of Bamako, subsequently becoming involved in the cultural and social life of the capital, and proving especially popular with young people, whom he depicted as they embraced new dances from Europe and Cuba and Western fashions. Sidibé won numerous awards including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 at the Venice Biennale and the PhotoEspaña Prize in 2009. He is represented by Jack Shaineman Gallery in New York and M+B Gallery Los Angeles. His work is in the collections of MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Getty Museum, Brooklyn Museum, SFMoMA, Baltimore Museum of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, Philadelphia Museum of Art and RISD Museum.

Acclaimed for his black-and-white photographs of 1960s youth culture in Bamako, Mali, Malick Sidibé (born 1936) is today the African continent's best-known photographer. Sidibé was recently awarded the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (2007)--the first time this award was presented to a photographer--and the Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement (2008), in recognition of his contribution to documentary photography and the historical record. Malick Sidibé: La Vie en Rose provides a survey of this work, focusing primarily on Sidibé's images of Mali's buzzing youth culture and family life in Bamako in the 1960s and 70s. Laura Serani's foreword contextualizes Sidibé's work in a wider survey of African photography; the book also includes an interview with the photographer by Laura Incardona and an appendix with Sidibé's famous "chemises" (photographic dossiers), which documents his working methods.

A person has three sides: their face, their back, their profile. To snap a person's profile is interesting. To see someone from behind, especially my sisters or my mother, is more interesting. When you see a woman wearing a skirt from behind, it's a temptation. People have had car accidents that way. There was a beautiful woman walking in front of my studio and on the tarmac a man was coming on a Vespa. He saw the woman, forgot the road. A van was parked in front of my neighbor's house: he crashed into the van!
At the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, African contemporary art was shown for the first time in history. That year, its highest distinction, the Golden Lion, was awarded to Mali photographer Malick Sidibé, whose ebullient, deeply human, black-and-white work is presented here--on beautiful spot-varnished paper with special small, uncoated inserts sewn in.
Malick Sidibé was born around 1936 in Soloba, Mali. In 1952 he moved to Bamako, where he continues to live and work. His portraits and documentation of social life in Bamako, particularly of young people's activities, have been widely acclaimed. In 1995, his work was shown outside of Africa for the first time. Since then, his work has been exhibited throughout the world, garnering the 2003 Hasselblad Award and the 2007 Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 52nd Venice Biennale, among many others.