BIO

Malick Sidibé is a famous Malian photographer noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako. He was born in Soloba, Mali, and completed his studies in design and jewelry in the École des Artisans Soudanais (now the Institut National des Arts) in Bamako. In 1955, he undertook an apprenticeship at Gérard Guillat-Guignard's Photo Service Boutique, also known as "Gégé la pellicule". That’s how he got started in photography.

In 1958, Malick Sidibe opened the "Studio Malick" in the centre of Bamako where he still prints his portraits today and repairs cameras. The wildness of the 1950’s, and the coming of independence, gave birth to a new generation of photographers who were totally involved in the cultural and social life that they recorded. Malick Sidibé, was a pivotal character in all this, highly appreciated by young people, he was present at all the soirees where the young, organized in clubs, learned the new dances coming from Europe and Cuba, and dressed elegantly in Western clothes. In I957 he was the only reporter in Bamako who covered all the events, festivities and surprise-parties. On Saturdays these parties lasted until dawn and continued on Sunday on the banks of the river Niger. This on-the-spot coverage provided simple pictures, full of truth and complicity. From his photos an insouciance and spontaneity emerges: he captured the playful partying, full of laughter and life.

In the 1970s, Sidibé turned towards the making of his now world famous studio portraits. He quit this activity in 1978, but continued his studio photography and repairing cameras. When his work gained an international reputation, particularly after the first meetings on African photography in Mali in 1994, new horizons opened up for him. People flock to his studio, magazines commission photo-reports, and he is invited almost everywhere in the world for exhibitions and conferences.

His work has been widely exhibited in Europe (notably,at Fondation Cartier, in Paris), the United States and Japan. Many of his photographs are part of the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi.

In 2003, Sidibé received the Hasselblad Award for photography and, in 2007 he was awarded the Venice Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement award. It was the first time it had been presented to a photographer.

In 2006 Tigerlily Films made a documentary entitled "Dolce Vita Africana" about Malick Sidibé, filming him at work in his studio in Bamako, having a reunion with many of his friends (and former photographic subjects) from his younger days and speaking to him about his work.

In 2008, Sidibé was awarded the ICP Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement.

 

source: "Wikipedia"