Since 1960, Malick Sidibé (Mali, 1936) has produced photographs in his studio, Studio Malick, located in Bamako. These images with their pure gaze document popular culture in his city. A vast majority of the photos he took during the 1970s ended up generating an extensive catalog of urban characters and types, the result of working with a sincere documentary approach without hang-ups of feeling superior to them. As a result, Sidibé has achieved producing photographs far removed from the prejudices of a Western gaze cast upon other cultures.
PHE- Today you’re a renowned photographer, and your photos have traveled all over the world. How did you start out in photography?Malick Sidibé- I studied at the school of arts because I liked to draw. Then I began in photography by working with a French photographer in 1957. At the time, I was the youngest photographer in the city.
Luckily, I was the only one who had a flash, so I began to take photographs of parties at night. I was at the studio until midnight or one in the morning until I went out to take photos at parties. I would go back to my studio, develop the film, and on Mondays and Tuesdays I would hang the photos in my shop so young people could come and choose the ones they liked the most...
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