Malick Sidibé: Mali’s star photographer
Malick Sidibé's most famous photographs show black and white scenes of young people partying in the capital Bamako in 1960.
The Malian photographer, Malick Sidibé, is one of Africa’s most celebrated artists.
His most famous photographs show black and white scenes of young people partying in the capital Bamako in the joyful, confident era after Mali’s independence from France in 1960.
In the 1990s, a chance encounter with a French curator brought Sidibé’s work international acclaim.
The wider world had been used to seeing a narrow range of images from Africa, so when Sidibé’s work went on show in Western galleries, audiences were stunned by the exuberant world they revealed.
In 2022, Manthia Diawara, the Malian filmmaker and professor at New York University, who knew Malick when he was a roving nightlife photographer spoke, to Viv Jones.
(Photo: Danser le Twist, 1963 by Malick Sidibé. Credit: Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Wed 14 Jun 2023 07:50GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service
- Wed 14 Jun 2023 11:50GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service
- Wed 14 Jun 2023 17:50GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Wed 14 Jun 2023 21:50GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 15 Jun 2023 02:50GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service
Featured in...
![]()
African history—Witness History
Listen to and download our programmes
Podcast
-
![]()
Witness History
History as told by the people who were there
