Malick Sidibé: Iconic portraits of African youth culture
- Text by HUCK HQ
- Photography by Malick Sidibe
Malick Sidibé – nicknamed “the eye of Bamako” – is one of Africa’s most beloved portrait photographers. Working across the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, he shot black and white studies of youth culture; unveiling an exciting, exuberant side to his hometown of Bamako in Mali.
Now, coming just over a year after his death in April 2016, the legendary photographer is being celebrated with a new show at Paris’ Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. Titled Mali Twist, it promises to be the largest ever exhibition of Sidibé’s work, with over 300 images and 30 never-before-seen studio portraits set to go on display.
“The photographs reveal Malick Sidibé’s capacity, starting at the beginning of the 1960s, to grasp the vitality of the youth of Bamako and impose his unique style, recognised today throughout the world,” explains a spokesperson for the show. It’s set to run at the Paris institution until February 25 next year.
An accompanying book of the same name is also available; packed with lavish examples of his studio portraits and party shots. His lesser known work – such as his outdoor photography set around local villages and the Niger River – is also featured.
Un yéyé en position, 1963. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Mon chapeau et pattes d’éléphant, 1974. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Les amis dans la même tenue, 1972. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Un gentleman en position, 1980. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Circa 1972. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Nuit de Noël, 1963. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
1973. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Fans de James Brown, 1965.
Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
1968. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Danser le twist, 1965. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
À la plage, 1974. Collection Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
© Malick Sidibé
Extract from Mali Twist (Éditions Xavier Barral, Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2017)
Malick Sidibe: Mali Twist is available now, and the accompanying exhibition is on show at Fondation Cartier from 20 October-25 February, 2018.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
A stark, confronting window into the global cocaine trade
Sangre Blanca — Mads Nissen’s new book is a close-up look at various stages of the drug’s journey, from production to consumption, and the violence that follows wherever it goes.
Written by: Isaac Muk
“Like skating an amphitheatre”: 50 years of the South Bank skatepark, in photos
Skate 50 — A new exhibition celebrates half a century of British skateboarding’s spiritual centre. Noah Petersons traces the Undercroft’s history and enduring presence as one of the world’s most iconic spots.
Written by: Noah Petersons
“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams
Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.
Written by: Josh Jones
Free-spirited, otherworldly portraits of Mexico City’s queer youth
Birds — Pieter Henket’s new collaborative photobook creates a stage for CDMX’s LGBTQ+ community to express themselves without limitations, styling themselves with wild outfits that subvert gender and tradition.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The suave style and subtle codes of gay San Francisco in the ’70s
Seminal Works — Hal Fischer’s new photobook explores the photographer’s archive, in which he documented the street fashion and culture of the city post-Gay Liberation, and pre-AIDS pandemic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The stripped, DIY experimentalism of SHOOT zine
Zine Scene — Conceived by photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya in the ’00s, the publication’s photos injected vulnerability into gay portraiture, and provided a window into the characters of the Brooklyn arts scene. A new photobook collates work made across its seven issues.
Written by: Miss Rosen
